


Dr. Laing's Loose End

by Caffiend



Series: High Rise - Robert and Arianna [1]
Category: High-Rise (2015)
Genre: AU, Anal Sex, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Cambridge, Daddy Kink, Dom Tom, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Dungeon, Exhibitionism, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Hospitals, Loss of Innocence, Louboutins, Married Sex, Rope Bondage, Rough Sex, Sibling Death, Smut, dining room table sex, examining room sex, growing a spine, neurosurgery, reptile brains, submissive sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:22:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 55,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6150453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiend/pseuds/Caffiend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While the dark and terrifying Dr. Robert Laing has been plowing through the female population of High-Rise, there's a certain angry "loose end" from his past that he never bothered to tend to. And now she's here, in his domain and demanding attention. Whether he wants to give it or not. And when he does, she begins to wonder if she can bear to see the true nature of the man she still loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'll Make A Scene

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first effort on Archive, in fan fiction, really. I've been perusing all the Dom/sub Tom stories - so many that I'm beginning to believe the man really carries handcuffs in his back pocket. I'm only as expert in Dom/sub kink as the stories I've read, so forgive me if I'm incorrect on certain specifics. Reviews and constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for reading.
> 
> Oh, and because there's nothing remotely interesting about the 1970's, I wrote this as current day, 2016.

High Rise

 

It wasn't that Arianna's hands were shaking, exactly. But this was possibly the bravest thing she'd ever done and walking torward the gloomy concrete high rise before her made her stomach twist with dread. The shadow from the building made with winter air all the more chilly, and Arianna pulled her black cashmere coat closer to her as she made her way into the entrance.

Once inside, Airanna's courage evaporated as she realized - for the first time - that she had absolutely no idea of what floor Robert lived on, much less his flat number. Looking for a directory, she realized immediately that places like this would never offer information about their residents. Feeling utterly foolish, she sank down on a nearby bench. Her pale green eyes - Robert used to call them "the green of the Nile" narrowed angrily as two businessmen walked by, smirking at her in a way that was completely improper. Just about to stand up and slink back out the door, Arianna spotted three children peeking at her at the door of what looked like a small market. Her full pink lips smiled, Arianna loved children and always looked forward to having her own. Now, at the ripe age of 24, she wondered if that would ever be possible.

"Hello," she offered. "are you shopping for your mother?"

The oldest smirked, "naw, Miss. We're waiting for Jake there to turn his back so we can snatch a sweet."

  
Arianna looked dubiously at the angry man at the front of the store, chubby arms folded over his considerable belly and a frown on his face. Leaning forward conspirationally, she beckoned the children over and pulled some money out of her black Gucci clutch.  
"Well, maybe we can help each other and then you needn't wait for...ah, Mr Jake to turn his back, yes?"

  
The children were all easily under 10, but far wiser to the ways of the world than Arianna had been, even in her teens. "What d'ye want, Miss?"

  
"Only information," smiled Arianna. "I'll bet smart young gents like you know all the goings on here in the High Rise."

  
The tallest leaned forward, looking meaningfully at the £5 notes. "Could be. What's you looking for?"

  
She plucked one of the notes and handed it to the boy. "I'm looking for flat number. For Dr. Robert Laing."

  
His brow furrowed and he looked at the other two. "Oy!" said the youngest. "Scary-looking man in sharp suits? Tall and mean? Always with a frown?"

  
Arianna let out a peal of musical laughter. It was such a relief to laugh after all the anxiety churning and twisting through her. "That's the man," she agreed, handing over another note. "Now, can you tell me his flat number? His floor, perhaps?"

"Why don't you just ask him yourself?"

  
Arianna's back stiffened and she felt the familiar sense of shame, like a bucket of cold water thrown over her back. Shifting on the seat, she looked up, up to the angry visage of Dr. Robert Laing standing over her, one huge fist clenched on the handle of his expensive briefcase. The last lad leaned forward and nipped Arianna's final pound note from her slack hand and the children raced away, giggling.

"What. Are. You. DOING here?" Robert snarled, leaning further in to shadow Arianna. "How do you even know where I live?"

  
Neatly sliding her shapely bottom to the right, Arianna stood in front of him defiantly. "It's hardly a surprise," she hissed, "you've brought half my friends here, after all." This wasn't how she planned it, she thought in frustration. She was going to knock on his door and graciously request an audience with the great Dr. Robert Laing. Being caught on a dirty bench trying to bribe children into getting information was not in her vision. Nor was the tall and still furious man crowding her. Re-gathering her confidence, Arianna narrowed her eyes and stared into the blinding blues of the man above her. "There's no other way to reach you, your office won't take my messages. I had no choice."

"Then that should have made it painfully clear to you that there is nothing to say." Robert's voice couldn't have been colder, more indifferent.

  
"Perhaps not for you, Robert, but I have plenty to say!" she snapped. "And if you won't give me a moment of your precious time in private, I'll be happy to do it here!" Arianna banked on Robert's horror of "making a scene." He looked around them angrily to see some curious stares, then took her upper arm and not-gently ushered her into the closest lift. The glare of the bright lights and four mirrored walls made her lose her equilibrium, putting one small hand on the wall for balance. They stood silently as the door opened again and a blonde with gigantic breasts and little covering them sauntered aboard.

"Hello, Robert." the blonde cooed. "Hope I'm not dripping on you, just at the pool." She ran her hand over the nearly non-existent bikini top. To Arianna's fury, Robert's blue eyes dropped to the woman's generous cleavage, though his face remained expressionless.

  
"Charlotte." he acknowledged, ignoring the fuming Arianna standing next to him.

  
Charlotte's eyes drifted over the beautiful girl. She was younger than Charlotte, that was certain. From money. Her silky cashmere coat and black Prada suit, the black Louboutin heels and a huge rope of creamy, triple strand pearls didn't come from Topshop. The girl was slender, coming up just to Robert's chin, blessed with perfect skin, full pink lips and the most startling eye color the envious blonde had ever seen. A strange pale green, lined with charcoal grey, fringed with thick black lashes and swooping brows. And the girl was clearly out of her element, hands shaking slightly, mouth set in an angry line as she stared back.

Grinning, Charlotte casually leaned over the fuming girl to draw closer to Robert. "I do hope you're coming to the party tonight. It's been forever since we've seen you at one of Mr. Royal's...ah...gatherings."

"I believe we both attended the Greek orgy event just last week," the man calmly replied, feeling his companion stiffen in shock. Charlotte's peal of laughter was high and mean-spirited. "Oh heavens, darling! I completely forgot. You look so different with your clothes on."

Arianna drew one calming breath between her clenched teeth. As the chime signaled their arrival on Robert's floor, Charlotte turned to the enraged girl. "And you are, dear?"

The pink-lipped smile back was angelic. "Arianna Laing. Dr. Laing's wife."


	2. Precious Little Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, where did a wife come in to the picture of Dr. Robert Laing's perfectly ordered life?  
> Smut's next chapter.
> 
> Quick note: I upgraded the good doctor to a neurosurgeon, because Laing's indifference and complete lack of warmth is very recognizable to anyone who's had to work with a surgeon that hacks into your brain. They have a dreadful bedside manner and a very mechanic-like approach to the most sensitive organ in the human body. If you've dealt with one, you're totally nodding your head right now.

The gape of Charlotte's mouth was worth the grip of Robert's angry hand on her upper arm again he hustled Arianna out of the lift, marching her down the hall. As he stopped to insert his key in the lock of his flat's front door, the one across the hall opened and 5 flight attendants fluttered out, painfully bright in their red and white uniforms.  
"Dr. Laing!" cooed one, "how lovely to see you. Thanks again for helping us with that...appliance issue last week."

  
The others giggled uncontrollably, like teenagers at a One Direction concert, Arianna thought sourly. Except the "rock star" they all clearly wanted to fuck was her husband. The iron grip Robert hand on her arm didn't loosen, but he smiled charmingly at the women as he opened the door. "Any time, ladies. Have a lovely flight."

"Bye, Robert! Bye, Dr. Laing!" they chorused as he ungently ushered his wife inside his flat and firmly shut the door.

"Good God, Robert!" Arianna yanked her arm away as she hissed, "is there anything with ovaries you haven't fucked in the High Rise yet?" She regretted her moment of courage when his jaw tightened again, eyes going cold and flat.

"That's really none of your goddamned business, is it?"

  
"It is when you refuse to send the divorce papers you insisted on!" she retaliated, angry that tears were already springing to her eyes. Like a child, she thought bitterly, remembering all the times Robert called her one when she wept. Lifting her chin, she side-stepped the man in front of her and took off her own overcoat, laying it on the couch since it didn't seem likely he would offer to take it for her. Robert took off his own and hung it in the coat closet, carefully centering the hanger with the others. Arianna's eyes rolled. Some things never changed. She pulled off her soft leather gloves and placed them next to her coat and purse. Robert leaned one impeccably suited shoulder against the wall and watched her wander through his open-spaced living area. The sumptuous kitchen looked out to the dining area and a huge living room, all lined with high floor to ceiling windows. Everything was perfectly set, clean and shining. There were no photos, knick-knacks, nothing personal really except piles of the medical books Robert loved to read.

"It's so...you." Arianna said without irony.

  
"Well, I could throw some clothes on the floor, smear some lipstick on a mirror and lay out a half-finished wine glass if it would make you feel more at home." Robert's tone was silky, but Arianna felt the bite of it. He was being unfair. All her mildly messy habits had been brutally curtailed during the first year of their brief marriage. She was careful to keep everything spotless, enraged to find that she still did, even after he left her.

  
She took a deep breath. "So, this is it? You're happy here?" Arianna couldn't quite cut out the note of sorrow that wavered on the end of the question.

  
Robert unfolded his arms and sauntered toward her, automatically smoothing his suit jacket. "Perfectly happy, Arianna. Now, what is it that you need?" His indifferent expression and calm, low voice could have very well been speaking of a recent surgery or a shopping list. She'd been drawn to furious tears before during arguments, when Robert could calmly cut her to pieces as she stuttered and yelled. He was ten years older, but Arianna thought that there was never a time in her husband's life that he deviated from the cool, collected man that stood in front of her.

She ran her hand through her brown curls, angrily shaking them back over her shoulder to drop to the curve of her waist. "I - I wanted to talk, I - I've been thinking." His perfect brow arched at her as he walked over to his liquor cabinet, taking out his beloved Jameson and pouring a glass.

"Really? And where has that thinking led you, darling?" He raised a bottle of juice. "Something to drink?"

  
Her chin raised, "I'll have a Jameson too, please."

A cruel smile curved his thin lips,"the drink you used to call 'charred pig swill?"

"Maybe my tastes have matured," Arianna said defiantly.

  
Robert actually chuckled, "that would genuinely shock me. But here." He handed her the whiskey and watch with amusement as she took a small, determined sip. Arianna refused to grimace as the alcohol burned down her throat, but the warmth in her stomach was welcome and helped her continue.

"As I was saying, I've been thinking about our marriage and all that's happened. Why you left -"

  
"I believe you screamed at me to 'get out, you monster, get out!" Robert cruelly mimicked her tone and she flushed angrily, taking another sip of Jameson.

  
"I - I know that maybe if I'd had more experience, maybe I wouldn't have been frightened, maybe I could have handled everything better. The things you did, the things you wanted to do -"

  
"Yes, such monstrous things." he was suddenly directly behind her, speaking into her ear in the silky tone that always made her tremble. "Such dirty things that defiled Mommy and Daddy's precious little princess."

  
She backed away angrily. "Stop! I never spoke of our - our personal life with my parents. You know I wouldn't!"

  
Robert kept gliding after her sinuously, his snake-like movements unsettling the trembling girl as his flat blue eyes refused to leave hers. "Oh, but they knew, darling. Didn't they? A few marks on your wrists, the time you couldn't quite sit down and they stared at me with loathing, wondering what I'd done to their precious little princess-"

  
"Will you stop calling me that!" Arianna hissed, "you know I hate it, and I'm not a little princess!" She stopped abruptly as her back hit the wall, Robert instantly caged her in with his hands hitting the wall just above her shoulders with a slap. He leaned in, breathing in her scent of vanilla and a whiff of rainwater. Ari always smelled so clean, like she'd just risen from her bath. And he could never wait to have her and rub his scent all over her clean skin.

  
"Not enough to scream at me to leave. Not enough to cringe from me like I'm a rapist there to savage you."

  
"Oooooh, Robert! Damn you! Stop acting like I'm the cold fish that ruined our marriage!" She angrily tried to shove him away from her, but he leaned in harder, pressing her against the wall. The standard position in their life together, Arianna thought bitterly. "You were my first! Where was I supposed to learn these things? How could I not be a little scared the first time you tied me up, or spanked me? Or - or - or put your - put your..."

  
"My cock up your delicious little ass?" He finished, his teeth drawing back in something that wasn't quite a sneer, but not a grin either. The man loved the furious red flush that darkened his bride's cheeks, even after 2 years of increasingly specific requests.

\------------------------------------------

It was true that his lovely Ari came to him a virgin. He'd met her at a graduation party at Cambridge University, he was there to accept an award and saw her in her pretty white dress, laughing and posing for selfies with her friends. Arianna was ballerina-slender and fresh, her glorious golden-brown hair cascaded down her back in curls to the small of her waist. Laing had never seen hair so long and thick. His large hand clenched, imagining how it would feel to gather that hair up into a thick rope and wind it around his fist. When he'd walked up to her, she actually faltered back a step, those pale green eyes widening as he towered over her.

"Congratulations, Miss...?" He smiled, and suddenly his eyes turned warm, a soothing mix of blue and green.

  
"Like the ocean," Arianna thought dreamily before collecting herself and smiling back. "Arianna Lennox. Thank you. Congratulations on your award, Dr. Laing. Your work in neurosurgery has done so much already."

  
His brow rose. "You actually listened to the commencement speeches? You followed the program?"

  
"Of course," she said earnestly, "I attended the medical college commencement to see my friends walk. You were very inspiring."

  
Laing put his hands in his pockets, slightly shifting his legs farther apart, leaning in. "And your degree? Let me think." He walked around her, slowly, deliberately as Arianna flushed. "So slight a build. Dance, I think."

  
"Got it in one," she agreed shyly, "with a dual degree in Fine Arts."

Dr. Robert Laing was utterly captivated to the bottom of his cold, black heart. He quickly charmed her loose from her friends and whisked her away to a restaurant to listen to her talk. Arianna glowed, waving her hands excitedly and laughing often. She seemed genuinely interested in his research and knew enough to ask intelligent questions. She laughed and blushed at the smallest compliment and answered questions about boyfriends diffidently. "I've been so busy with my studies and dance, there's not time for everything. That's what what my mother says." She looked up to see a slight, not nice smile curl his lips.

  
"You're close to your family?"

  
"Very much so. My father's a physician, as well as my brother. They both practice in Glasgow. They were all here earlier for my ceremony, but had to leave right away. You know, the busy life of a doctor." She smiled awkwardly and looked down into her untouched wine glass. She glanced up to see Laing staring into her eyes.

  
"What are you looking at? Is my mascara smeared?" she tried a small joke as she self-consciously wiped at her eyelid.

  
"No, it's just...the color. Your eyes are almost supernaturally beautiful. Like the green of the Nile River."

They dated for six months, and Laing was careful to never overstep her sexual boundaries. Ari wanted to be a virgin on her wedding night, very much.  
He was willing to wait.

  
Not that it was easy, Arianna would stagger into her little flat with her heart pounding at the heat of his kisses, the slick way his tongue would slip between her lips as his huge hand would slide to her breast, holding it gently, thumb playing with her nipple till she'd moan into his mouth. Robert would laugh, drawing away and gently setting her crumpled shirt to rights. "Patience." he'd always whisper.

On the night Robert proposed with an impeccable 3 carat Tiffany diamond ring, he also included the sumptuous rope of pearls Arianna had worn to his apartment. Huge, luminescent like her eyes, he'd said as he put them around her neck. Blushing and wearing nothing but those pearls and her new engagement ring, Arianna shyly invited him into her bedroom. Later that night, still shaking from her orgasms and the size of her betrothed's cock, Arianna closed her eyes dreamily as Robert carefully wiped the blood from her thighs and pussy, taking a moment to admire the stain from their coupling.


	3. What Are Your Safe Words, Darling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piss off Dr. Laing, will you? Perhaps Arianna didn't think this through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing smut is harder than I thought. It's like writing a really intense action scene, but with fluids. Speaking of fluids, I owe RubberDuckie for her stories showing me it was a thing. A really hot thing.

“My cock up your delicious little ass?”

 

Arianna hid her flaming face in her hands, so frustrated with her inability to stop blushing like a virgin. Laing’s long fingers gripped her wrists and pulled them off her face, lifting them over her head. The movement sent a muscle memory of arousal through Arianna’s pelvis, her hips helplessly shifting against his toned runner's thighs.

Robert laughed. “Oh, darling. Maybe that isn’t such a terrible memory after all? I remember you coming all over my fingers that night, even while I was deep inside that tiny hole? So tight…” He voice thickened and deepened from the memory, absently rubbing his stiffening cock against Arianna’s heaving stomach. “So warm…” he whispered into her ear. He could feel her heart racing frantically against her black jacket. Her power suit, she used to call it, he thought idly. Perhaps she thought it would armor her here today. He looked up at her wrists, clenched together by one of his large hands. She still wore her ring, he noticed with surprise. The thought alternately confused and warmed him, and Laing dropped her hands and moved away.

Taking a drink, he turned his back to his trembling wife. “Not that these memories aren’t lovely, darling, but you’re wasting my time. What exactly is your point to this little confrontation?”

“I – I want to try again.” Arianna said resolutely. “You told me I knew nothing about life, or about you. I want to know all of you. I’m not a stupid little girl and I’m not a virgin anymore. I’ve, um, I’ve been reading up on bondage and—“

Robert cut her off, laughing loudly. “Oh, darling. You’ve been Googling kink? Oh, God…” He leaned on his dining room table, the mirror-like finish reflecting his head thrown back, the sharp cheekbones of his profile slicing sharp from his huge and genuine laugh.

“Oh, shut UP, Robert! Stop treating me like a child! You never explained anything to me! You never told me why you liked it this way, that you needed it this way! If you had just explained it – it wouldn’t have been so scary.” Arianna angrily dashed more tears from her eyes. “Why wouldn’t you help me? You knew I wanted to please you!”

 

“PLEASE me?” Laing reached out one arm and angrily dragged to her to him. “You _endured_ me, you pathetic little bitch! Always looking so terrified, even when I made you come over and over – “

“I loved you!” Arianna screamed furiously. “I’m sorry that my Cambridge degree didn’t come with a full thesis on kinky fuckery! But you’re certainly getting your fill here, aren’t you!” Beside herself with rage, she reached up and slapped the mocking face of her husband. Instantly gasping, the color left her face as his eyes paled back into ice blue, narrowing into slits as he gritted his teeth. His hand left her arm and roughly unbuttoned her suit jacket, ripping it from her shoulders as she shook. It was the suit Arianna felt the most powerful in, black, like most of her husband’s suits. But the lacy scraps of undies underneath were for a more hopeful reason. A hope that was abruptly dashed when Robert looked over her pretty little bra. His mouth twisted and he reached under the short black skirt as she yelped.

“Dressed like a slut under that serious suit, aren’t you darling?” His fist twisted and ripped her panties off from under her skirt, pinning her hips against the table. Laing deliberately held the shredded fabric to his nose and breathed in, knowing it was an action that never failed to embarrass Ari. “Now, why would you be hiding the array of a first-class whore unless you intended to use it?” He yanked off her skirt while Arianna twisted in his grasp, trying to get loose. She could see her wide eyes in the gloss of the tabletop, her lip trembling. This wasn’t how she’d planned her seduction.

“Robert, damnit! Let me go and talk to me – “

“The time for talking is over now, darling,” he calmly interrupted her while unbuckling his belt. Arianna heard the whisper-sound of the leather sliding through his belt loops and froze in terror.

“Please, not like this! I wanted to understand you –“

“And you will,” he agreed, forcing her face-first over the table, swiftly binding her wrists with the belt, then wrapping the length of the leather to the opposite table leg. Looking down at her ass, Laing’s blood started pounding through his ears, face flushing as he looked at the small globes, sculpted from years of ballet. Grinning, he ran one long finger up her slit. She still shaved bare. Lifting her head desperately, Arianna looked back to see her husband’s lust as he played with her, one finger tracing her increasingly damp pussy and the other soothingly rubbing her ass. He kicked her heeled feet apart and she tried one more time.  
“Please, please Robert! You’re scaring me!”

He ignored her tears. “What are your safe words?”

Arianna was sobbing by now, hating that his fingers were making her press against him for more. She yelped as he slapped her ass sharply. “What are your safe words, darling?” His silky voice was right next to her ear again, she could smell the Jameson on his breath, feel the heat radiating from his body laid over her. She yelped again as Robert tore her bra off, leaving her in nothing but stockings and those high Louboutins he’d bought her on their honeymoon. “No more crying, my little princess.” He slapped her ass with each sentence as Arianna shook and cried. “I’ve stayed away from you, kept you from my filthy acts. But you came here to me, didn’t you? You knew what you were asking for, and I’m always happy to give my darling wife anything she wants.”

The next slap went below her buttocks and nearly on to her wet and sensitive slit. He smiled as she shrieked again. His fingers paused inside her, waiting for her ass to start that helpless movement that meant she needed more. When she did, Robert’s hand came down on the small of her back, shoving her flat to the table with her arms stretched tight ahead of her. The hard edge of the mahogany table cut into her stomach, and Arianna tried to shift away from the discomfort. This earned her a sharp slap right on her pussy and this time she screamed. His smooth, deep voice flowed over her again. “What are your safe words, little bitch? Go ahead and scream all you like. The apartments at High Rise are soundproofed.”

Leaning her forehead on the table, Arianna managed to sob out “R-red for s-stop and – and –“ Another sharp slap, this time on her clit made her yelp again.

“And what else?” Robert’s voice never deviated from it’s smooth, calm tone.

“And,” she sniffled, “and yellow for slow down.”

She heard his light chuckle as he went to his knees behind her. “One alteration, darling. No yellow. You can take it, or you can’t. If I hear red, I’ll untie you and throw your whimpering ass right out of my flat stark naked. And you will never see me again.”

The next thing she felt was his hot tongue against her, that horrible, clever tongue that could speak such cruel words, and then do such dark and lovely things to her. Arianna strained against the belt binding her wrists as Robert’s tongue lapped roughly at her slit, diving into her pussy and out again. “So sweet,” he mused. “There’s never been another cunt to match this delicious one.”

She growled with fury, trying to shake his face away, enraged that he would compare her to his long line of whores at such a time. Then, two long fingers reached up to scissor her clit and pulled, sharply. To her humiliation, Arianna let out a long and desperate moan. Robert laughed as he stood again, still tugging at her clit with one hand and unzipping himself with the other. She felt the huge head of his cock against her, leisurely sliding up and down, touching her pulled clit, then down to her ass. Up, and down. Robert admired her slender shoulder blades tense against his bindings, his wife’s tear-stained face against his table. He frowned briefly at the tears marring the mirrored finish of the table, then shrugged. There would be far more fluids smeared against it soon. The hand left her clit and wound itself in her hair, neatly coiling the locks into the thick rope he’d enjoyed so many times since that first fantasy. Yanking her head up as she gasped, Robert leaned into her ear one more time.

“Last chance, my lovely little whore. Do you want to say red?”

Gasping at the extreme angle he’d yanked to her, Arianna hissed “No! I’m not afraid of you. You’re a heartless bastard and I-“ She shrieked painfully as Robert started forcing the head of his cock into her. There was never a single thrust to the hilt with his wife, he mused, ignoring her moans as he felt that beautiful, tight wetness again. Ari was always too small to just shove the whole thing in there, even when he had her all wet and ready.

“Oh, my God,” he drew out, “you’re so lovely. You’re as tight darling as the day I tore you. Remember?” Robert kept pushing inch after massive inch of his cock inside her as he reached for her triple strand of pearls, twisting and yanking them back as he had with her long hair. Arianna choked, gasping with fear. He wasn’t actually cutting off her oxygen, but the pearls were tight against her throat, another merciless rein for her dark husband to tug. “You wore these pearls between your lovely breasts, pink nipples so puckered –“ Robert let go of his cock, firmly buried inside her pussy, he could feel the tugging of her warm little walls and just the tip of her cervix. His balls hung heavy below her entrance, and he casually kicked her feet further apart again to make room for them. His free hand slid up to her breasts, smashed nearly flat against his table. “I couldn’t stop licking those pink nipples, so juicy and pert –“

 

Arianna cringed, feeling the scratch of his woolen pants against her thighs, his suit jacket flapping her hips as he started pounding into her. It seemed so much more humiliating to be naked in front of her husband as he fucked her, completely dressed. It felt like he was taking her virginity all over again. It had been six months since he left their townhouse. Her pussy throbbed painfully as his cock ripped through her. Could one re-grow a hymen? She thought blearily.

“God, how I enjoy this lovely little quim,” Laing continued in a horribly conversational way. “Nothing’s tighter. I used to bury myself inside your cunt and never want to pull my cock back out. But eventually, you’d get so wet, so slippery. Remember, darling? Just like you are now.” He punctuated his last comment with a sharp thrust and another slap to her reddened ass. Suddenly yanking his cock out, he flipped her over, face up on the table and started working his thick organ back into her. His innocent little wife suddenly reached up with both long legs and placed them over his shoulders, making his thrusts deeper into her and nudging painfully against her cervix.

Her arms were aching from the leather bonds stretching them too tightly, and the flaming welts on her bottom rubbed painfully against the table. But Arianna forced a smirk. “You always loved to tie my hands above me. You said it made my breasts bounce so nicely.”

Robert suddenly bent his arms and leaned down, nearly nose to nose as he hissed, “Do you want to say red, darling? Go ahead. This can’t be comfortable for my little princess.”

Her first thought was to bash her forehead into his nose and break it. When would he stop with that odious, hateful title? Making her feel weak and even smaller than she was. But beyond the aching and the painful twinges were the beginnings of her orgasm, those delicious orgasms denied her when her husband had left her, taking that lovely, thick cock with him. Her small fingers could never replace that feeling in those lonely nights in their bed. Instead, Arianna lifted her head and kissed him on the lips, the first kiss in six months. She moaned as his tongue suddenly slipped into her mouth, running over her teeth and sucking on her pink little tongue. “My lovely dirty whore, so many more tricks.” He groaned, “you have been studying hard. Now, make yourself come.”

Robert knew her too well, already feeling her walls begin to tighten in that helpless, pulsing way that showed she was near. Arianna moaned, not wanting to stop, knowing if she came he’d come and then it would be over, he would throw her out of his cold apartment, his seed running down her leg. He put those two long fingers on her clit again, gently, insistently pulling on her sensitive bud as her legs began to shake. “Come on, darling. You need this. I can feel your slick running down my balls.” He began to speed his thrusts, making them shorter and sharper, his cock rubbing against all her sensitized nerve endings. “Come for me, you delicious little slut.”

Gritting her teeth desperately, Arianna looked at Robert, staring at the vivid, harsh blue of his eyes. She knew him too, and he was ready. His cock hardened impossibly more, diving desperately into her clenching cunt. “Do I –“ she gasped, “Do – do I have permission?” she swallowed, “-Sir?”

She had him. Robert’s eyes rolled back and he came with a roar, spraying her coaxing walls and into her cervix. It pushed from her pussy in small spurts as he finished milking himself in short thrusts.

Arianna’s head fell back on the table, exhausted but triumphant. She’d made him come. So hard and so loud that he didn’t even hear her moans as her pussy squeezed desperately against him. Still shaking from the aftershocks of the most powerful orgasm she could remember, she didn’t feel his hands untie the belt from her wrists, gently rubbing them to restore the feeling in her numb fingers. She tried to draw her knees together, but Robert’s hips blocked her. Eyes still closed, she could feel his long fingers playing with the come on her pussy, slowly pushing it back inside her.


	4. Seven Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they got all that sexual tension out of the way, what's next for Dr. and Mrs. Laing?

Arianna's eyes opened abruptly as she heard the sound of Robert's zipper closing, making her acutely aware that she was lying on a sticky dining room table in nothing but her high heels. Looking up, she could see his lean face watching her, already impassive. But with a smirk of satisfaction, Arianna noticed he was still struggling to control his breath, his face red and sweaty. Trying to sit up gracefully, she stood and swayed for a second, her legs still weak and shaky from gripping his shoulders. Surprisingly, Robert reached out a hand on her elbow to steady her. Flushing, she looked for her clothing and found what was left of that expensive power suit crumpled under the table. Suddenly she felt the cool slide of her cashmere coat over her shoulders, and Arianna gratefully slipped her arms into the silk lining. "Thank you."

"For what?"

She sighed. He was already back to the cold, smooth Dr. Laing. "For - most of the evening so far, I guess." Chuckling, he poured her a glass of water and brought it over to where she perched on the edge of his suede couch. Effortlessly hitching his still perfectly pressed trousers, her husband crouched in front of her, impassively examing her neck and wrists.

"You're full of surprises tonight, darling." he said. Her eyes closed gratefully, his large hands were warm and calloused, rubbing her wrists and stroking over the marks on her throat with a feather-light touch. As abrupt and scary as Robert used to be when he would pull her into another sexual encounter involving ropes, toys and such, he was always good at aftercare.

Aftercare. She was a little proud of knowing the word and what it meant in the bondage world. Even though Robert laughed at her efforts, Arianna had Googled queries like "tying someone up for sex" and "sex spanking." She was utterly humiliated that she couldn't work up the nerve to ask any of her friends if they did these things. The obliging search engine showed her far more than she'd ever wanted to know, and the first time she slapped her laptop shut, shuddering.

Sitting back in the chair opposite, Robert eyed her over the rim of his whiskey glass. "As completely enjoyable as that was, darling, what is your intent? To prove that you make a lovely, dirty little whore? Well done, darling. Really."

Green eyes narrowing, Arianna stiffened again. How could he make her feel so ashamed so easily? After she gave him what she knew he wanted? Leaning back defiantly, she purred, “Well, your lovely, dirty little whore, maybe. And you were certainly mine tonight, my dear husband." The last snark was a burst of bravado, which faded miserably when Laing gave her his coldest glare.

Even set in it's rigid lines, Arianna was amazed again at how beautiful Robert's face was. The perfect jaw, the silken hair and high cheekbones. She missed his eyes most, the mesmerizing swirl of blue and green that changed with his mood. She'd been right when comparing the hue to the ocean the night they met. His eyes' shifting shades always drew her back in, like diving deep into a soundless sea.

The sound of his throat clearing jerked her out of her stare, embarrassed for staring so long. "I told you what I wanted, Robert. I want you."

Chuckling mirthlessly, he asked, “You want this? You want to be my whore and let me do all the things to you that other women beg for? I can't believe you've changed that much in six months, darling."

Slipping off her excruciatingly high heels, Arianna gratefully rubbed her feet together under the coffee table.

"So you'll make it as horrid and degrading as possible, to chase me off again?" she retaliated. A chill went up her backside as her husband's blue eyes narrowed, an expression she was used to when he'd come to their bedroom with something behind his back. A coil of rope, or a riding crop. He was obviously musing all the possibilities, and it terrified her. Trying to stave off that line of thought, she rose anxiously from the couch and wrapped her coat around her. "I told you, I want to know you. Maybe I won't be able to handle all of... what you are. It could drive me away. But I don't think so. Let me at least see who I married before you walk away again." Walking closer, she could still smell the scent of both of them, rising with the body heat from her cashmere coat. Laing dipped his head as she approached him, putting his face a hairs-breath from her warm cleavage, clearly taking a long, deep, appreciative sniff.

"It is admittedly difficult to concentrate when you're standing before me scenting like a cat in heat. Let's bathe you."

Laing's eyes blazed blue again, and she could see the black of his pupils blown from scenting himself on her. As fastidious as the man was, Robert loved nothing better than to play with their emissions after sex, rubbing the fluids into her skin, scissoring her pussy to watch them slide out. Arianna used to lie still and stiff, unsure of what she was supposed to do as he examined those intimate parts of her so closely. She tried to joke once that perhaps instead of a neurosurgeon, he should have been a gynecologist. Robert was not amused. But as he headed to the back of the darkened apartment, she obediently followed. The master bath was more of the same, blinding white tile and chrome fixtures, snowy, thick towels and a huge granite-sided tub. She sat stiffly on the toilet seat and watched her husband take off his jacket and roll the sleeves of his white dress shirt up his forearms. They were thick with muscle-endless rounds of squash and tennis. He gave her a thin smile as he turned on the shining faucets, his Ari knew better than to touch the bath. It was part of his aftercare ritual, to choose the temperature of the water, select a soap or a scented body wash, whether to use a soft sponge to bathe her or a stiffer brush. "Up," he said, standing up and looming over her. She stood and he wrapped her long tail of hair into a messy bun on top of her head. Arianna shivered slightly in the chilly bathroom as Robert removed her cashmere covering. "Get in," he instructed, still holding her hand in a chivalrous way until her sore bottom was safely seated. A long, relieved exhale left her, it felt like the first time in 12 hours she didn't feel like she was holding her breath. Robert hadn't thrown her out. Not yet, anyway.

His long fingers began stroking a fragrant body wash over her arms and breasts. She didn't recognize the scent and wondered for one horrid moment if the wash had been left behind by some other woman. Looking at the rigidly straight rows of bath products, perfectly aligned on the chrome shelves, the fragile brunette remembered that Robert would be disgusted by anything left behind. By anyone. "Would you - um, would you like to join me?" she shyly offered. His blue eyes rose from where his strong hands were soaping her breasts.

"Perhaps another time, darling."

Sighing and leaning back his wife allowed him to finish bathing her, passively still under his hands. The next part of the ritual was her favorite, where he'd stand her from the bath and carefully pat her dry, often kissing or fondling parts of her as he dried her. Arianna's knees nearly gave out, she was so tired after everything that happened to her. "One more thing, then I'll put you to bed,” his low voice was directly behind her now, she could feel the warmth of him and Laing rubbed his hands together and began smoothing coconut oil on her sleek back. "I don't happen to have vanilla lotion here," he remarked dryly.

"This is nice," she rushed to reassure him, "thank you." Pausing above her as he rubbed the oil down her arms, his eyes looked into hers, a knowing smile on his face.

"How nice to see you can break with the tried and true, darling." He lifted her up, towel and all and carried her into the bedroom. Arianna glanced around just enough to see the huge floor to ceiling windows in this room as well, the only light shining from the city outside the High Rise. "Sleep," he commanded, leaning over to place her between the sheets. "We'll talk in the morning." Just as he turned to rise, Ari grabbed his hand. Leaning back with a frown, he looked as her as she boldly took a delicate sniff of his chest.

"Someone else smells like a cat in heat, too." With a slight, impish smile, she turned over in bed to avoid a glare, wanting to fall asleep with the last memory of being cared for by her cold and dark husband.

 

Waking in the strange bed the next morning was still familiar to Arianna, the same luxurious, 1,200 count cotton sheets Robert always insisted on, the thick down comforter and lush mattress. Familiar too, she thought with a twist of her full lips was the glass of water with two aspirin, along with a note in her husband's firm handwriting. "Take these." After obeying and a trip to the bathroom, she stood back in the door of the bedroom, hesitating. Other than her overcoat, Robert ripped most of her clothing off her body last night. Heading to the closet, she took out one of his many dress shirts, standing for a moment to shake her head at the exact spacing of hangers lining the huge walk-in closet. Shirts by color. Suits by weight. A full cherry bureau with his silk ties and many leather belts rolled carefully into pristine rows. For one silly moment, the girl buried her nose in her husband's suits, smelling the sandalwood and a hint of Polo he always wore. "You're ridiculous," she chided herself, smelling his suits like - "well, like a cat in heat, I guess." Carefully straightening his hangers again. Ari closed the doors to the closet and slipped on the white dress shirt. Her green eyes wandered the bedroom until she caught a flash of color on the otherwise monochromatic wall. Walking closer, rolling up the sleeves, she saw a precise square of blue paint, right at eye level for a ridiculously tall man and the can of paint and paintbrush sitting on the floor beneath it. Her brow quirked, leaving something as humble as a can of paint in his pristine bedroom was utterly unlike Robert. The outer door opened and shut, and she could hear his measured footsteps crossing the living room as her slim fingers frantically buttoned the shirt.

She turned with a determined smile, "Good morning. I see you're trying out some new hues in the bedroom. The blue is bright, I like it." Laing was dressed in his running shorts, sweat-stained shirt clinging to his broad chest. He was expressionless as he pulled off the wet shirt as he walked over to the small patch of blue, studying it with her. Arianna was painfully aware of the warmth of the man next to her, smelling his scent from the exercise.

"Too bright." he said, walking away. She stared at him as he removed his running shorts, stunned into silence as she watched the man she'd married. Robert was beautiful. He looked tall and slim in his suits, but underneath was a thick coating of muscle over his back and legs. His chest stayed in the same perfect six-pack that he had when he first undressed in front of her, his arms intimidating with sculpted bands of muscle. Naked, the cold Dr. Laing was even more formidable by his size and bulk. Dropping his clothes in the hamper, he walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower. "Will you make something for breakfast, darling?"

"Of course!" she said as the door shut. Sighing, Arianna looked back to the bed for a moment and her heart sank. The space next to her small mound of ruffled sheets and pillows was smooth. Her husband didn't sleep beside her last night. Carefully pulling up the covers and smoothing the pillows back into orderly perfection, she blinked back tears and walked out of the room.

Conversation was limited as they ate, Laing already dressed in another sharply pressed suit, ready for work. As she stood to take their plates to the sink, he stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I have an idea, darling." Arianna folded her arms, suddenly angry that her husband hadn't said her name once since they'd met in the entry yesterday.

"Arianna."

A perfect brow rose on his face. "I beg your pardon?"

"My name is Arianna, remember? Ari, sometimes, when you like me a bit more." She looked down from his amused face but held her stance. "You only call me darling when you're making fun of me."

"All right," Robert drawled. "Arianna. I have an idea. I think you should spend a week here, with me."

"At the High Rise?" she asked, startled. She hated this place, hated the grim concrete exterior and the carefully contained pods of society. She hated looking at every smirking female smile and knowing that her husband had likely fucked them.

He drank some more coffee, watching her carefully. "You said you wanted to know me. There's no more likely place than here. I'm here alone, with nothing else to dilute or hide what I am."

Wringing her hands, she sat back down in her chair. "But, what about work? I don't have any clothes here-"

"I already sent someone over to pick up clothes and toiletries for you from the townhouse." Her dark brow rose. Robert still had a key? He paused and looked at her levelly. "I attempted to call the art gallery to request vacation time for you. Apparently you'd turned in your resignation about 5 and a half months ago."

Her chin rose, "I quit. I had to. It was your friend's gallery and you got me that job, we both know it. I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you at openings and parties...with a date." There was a bitter taste in her throat that she forced down. "I have another position as a curator and a buyer in a little gallery in London. It's small but there's some very good talent there," she finished defiantly.

"Taking matters into your own hands," he mused. "Such independence." Robert didn't sound pleased.

He finished his coffee and stood. "I have surgeries scheduled three mornings this week. I'll cancel my clinicals so I can be here most of the day. Have you built enough good will at your new...place to ask for a leave?"

Arianna took the plates to the sink, placing them gently. "I think so. There's one shipment of pottery coming in I'll need to see to. But the other staff can handle the rest."

"Excellent."

Startled, she nearly dropped the plate she was rinsing as Robert spoke into her ear. The damned man was like a snake, she could never hear him creep up on her. One large palm landed on her taut stomach, gently traveling down to rest just above her pelvis. Arianna let out another shaky exhale of breath as his long arm pulled her against his chest. Clutching the sink and feeling woefully underdressed in just his shirt, she felt goosebumps rising on her skin as his nose slid into her hair, nuzzling along the sensitive shell of her ear. His hand tightened suddenly on her belly as Robert asked in his darkest voice, "Shall we seal the deal, then?"


	5. Sealing The Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making a deal with the Devil. Also, smut.

"Would you like to seal the deal?" Robert's voice whispered in her ear, a dark promise of pleasure.

"Wha- what are you thinking of?" she asked uncertainly, "Like a handshake?" He chuckled, already pulling her away from the sink, hand sliding down her arm to take her hand, leading her back into the bedroom. Understanding flooded Arianna, and she was just grateful it wouldn't be that hard, nasty dining table again. A frisson moved through her pelvis, tingling up the small of her back. This time wouldn't be so painful, now that she'd been introduced to that gigantic penis again. The walls of her pussy were already beginning to moisten eagerly.

Instead of leading her to the bed, Laing pulled her to the huge windows lining his bedroom. He surrounded her with his long arms, seating her between them as he rested his palms against the cold glass. "The view is beautiful, isn't it?" He was right, the girl thought.

"You can see the Eye from here," she smiled, "and the Houses of Parliament." The blue-grey water of the River Thames sparkled idly and the view made her relax into her husband's hold. The blue of Robert's eyes drew her gaze back to the closer reflection of the two of them. He was so impossibly long and tall, she thought. When he put his arms around her, she'd always felt completely enclosed, protected. As his demands changed in bed, sometimes the feeling of being surrounded by all of Robert could be a little threatening. He held her gaze in the window's reflection, an immovable force, pressing her softness a bit against the chilly glass.

"With the sun out today," he said conversationally, "the reflection off the windows outside the High Rise can be quite blinding." His long fingers began to slowly loosen the buttons on the dress shirt covering his wife. His fingers paused to appreciate her breasts, his long fingers stroking them. "Ridiculous," he mused, "that your ballet instructor actually suggested reducing these beautiful breasts."

His Ari's breath was coming a little faster, he noticed as he looked down, gently twisting the pink nipples into hardness. "Well," she shrugged, "once they grew to a "C cup, it took me out of the classic ballet measurements. Even binding them didn't keep me in proportion with the rest of the line."

"Savages," Robert hissed, opening another button, then another until the shirt was open. As he started pulling it off her shoulders, Ari grasped the edges nervously.

"Let me step back from the window," she asked shyly, "there's so many windows looking into yours. I don't want to flash anyone." Her small chuckle died when Laing gently pressed her back into the window, her pink nipples pointed harder in contact with the chill leaching in from outside the glass. "Robert..." she started, her voice dying off as she realized he wouldn't be stopped.

"Now, remember what I said," he admonished. "It's sunny outside, and no one can see your beautiful little body through the reflection. But I can see you," his long fingers pulled the shirt off her arms and then traced over one hip. "And you can see me behind you." Ari's head dropped back against his collarbone as his voice lowered into that poisonous, persuasive rumble that always made her will dissolve. "Put your hands on the window." He ordered. Doing as he asked, she nervously shook her long hair over one shoulder, hoping to cover a little of her nudity. Feeling him behind her again, Arianna shivered as he drew his long fingers down her waist and over her thighs, crouching behind her and lifting one foot. He was carefully fitting those sky-high Louboutins on her feet again. The extra five inches drew his wife up to just level with his nose. Still on his knees behind her, Robert ran his fingers up the back of her strong thighs. "I've always adored these lovely, long dancer's legs of yours," he mused. "The muscles so lean and strong." Ari stifled a yelp as he lightly bit just behind her left knee, then placed another mid-thigh, on his way to her buttock. "Oh, this poor, sore bottom." His voice changed to teasing, "You’ve lost your resistance to a little light spanking. It's still so pink." She sagged in relief as he gently kissed her buttocks, instead of biting them. As his lips gently ran over her silky bottom, Robert's long fingers crept through the crease and slid into her already slickened lips, gently spreading them to swirl around her clit and tease the opening of her pussy. His right arm raised up to press his fingers against her lips. "Lick them, get them wet." She obediently pulled them into her mouth, swirling her tongue over the roughened pads. He pulled them out with a slick sound and slid two swiftly inside her as she gasped. With surgical precision (and why wouldn't they be, she thought dazedly, what with operating on the delicate neurons and ganglia of the brain, those same fingers swirling inside her channel have also been inside a brain...) his fingers sawed in and out, scissoring and opening her wider. They teasingly stroked over the rough and spongey spot on the front of her pussy, causing Arianna to moan and push her hips forward. He chuckled lowly and stood, unzipping his fly and pulling out his dick. The feeling of embarrassment came back from last night to her, standing naked in front of her husband, fully dressed. Arching her back with his hand, Robert bent his knees and started slipping his cock into her, a short, pleased growl coming from his throat. With the high heels, the angle was better, his thrusts deeper. With one hand pressed against her pussy from the front, Robert's other hand slid under her chin, lifting it and forcing her to look at them together, fucking against the window. "You look so filthy, my dirty little girl. Your lovely, soiled kitty pressed against the window, smearing it with your slick."

Arianna looked down and realized he was right. He was fucking her so hard that her pussy knocked repeatedly against the chilly glass, smearing her juices against his immaculate window. But the cold rubbing against her clit was agonizingly good and she couldn't seem to focus on anything else. "Sweet, juicy little kitty," he rumbled, putting his knees under her thighs and pushing her higher until their heads were level. His cock sped up the thrusts inside her, pounding her against his hard pelvis and the slick glass of the window. "All those sweet spills are just making more friction on that greedy clit, aren't they darling?" He deliberately slid her side to side on the window, then up and down again. Ari couldn't stop the whimpering beginning to push past her lips as her clit and pussy coiled together, beginning to squeeze against the invading muscle of her husband, still hammering her. "Time to cum, my precious cunt. Squeeze against Daddy, now." The sheer filthiness of his words juxtaposed with his smooth, well-bred British accent sent her over the edge, spasming over and over, squeezing his cock and forcing his finish as well.

Robert kept her pressed against the glass as they finished, a rush of slick fluids streaming from her convulsing pussy and smearing against the window again. Limp and shuddering, Arianna covered her overworked pussy and marveled at how strong her husband was, casually lifting her weight as he fucked her, like she weighed nothing. When he finally pulled out with a groan, he turned her into his arms and kissed her for the first time that morning. "You are unimaginably beautiful when you allow yourself to be so used until you're dripping," he crooned. "But look what a mess you've made."

They both looked down at his wet, shiny dick, still outside his pristine slacks. "Make me tidy, darling." he said, gently pressing her shoulders to send her down on her knees. Still glowing and soft from her orgasm, Ari immediately pressed her full lips against her husband's cock, gently swirling her tongue and cleaning him, sucking his softening organ down her throat, even licking his balls free of moisture. Feeling rather smug, she carefully tucked him back in his suit and slid the zipper up. She looked up at his heated blue eyes from under her lashes as she attempted to stand. "But you're not done." His hand on her shoulder kept her down.

Arianna blinked up the tall length of Robert, confused. "What -?" His mouth curled into a small, cruel smile and his sea blue eyes turned to the formerly immaculate window.

"Look at this mess," he gently chided. "Positively whorish, all that juice soiling the window. Lick it up."

She sat back abruptly on her heels, looking from the smeared mess of their come and then back up to him. "I'll go get a paper towel, Robert."

He smiled again and turned her shoulders firmly to the window. "Lick up the mess from your sweet little kitty. You're not leaving your knees until you do." Her fists clenched in fury against her thighs, she could feel her husband's long surgeon fingers slip through her hair and firmly against her jaw, urging her head to the smeared glass. "Go on, now." he voice was no longer playful. "I'm going to be late for surgery if you don't get started." Arianna stared at her pale reflection in the window, wondering what she had agreed to as her tongue slowly slid out and touched the come-smeared glass.


	6. Pas De Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dance is pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More smut. I still can't figure out why I'm writing a High Rise tale, instead of something delicious about Loki or a sexy AU Tom. But, this is the one that came to me.
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism much appreciated - thank for reading!

Arianna felt Robert's fingers idly stroking her hair as she finished licking the window clean of their arousal. It didn't take long, but each stroke of her tongue against the glass made her more angry and embarrassed. The doorbell rang. "I imagine the messenger is here with your clothes," he said, running a hand along her cheek. As he went to answer it, Arianna stalked into the bathroom, clenching the white marble counter and looking at herself in the mirror. There were two red spots burning on her cheeks and her lips were trembling - the girl hated the combination of humiliation and arousal she felt every time her dark husband seduced her into something she never would have imagined doing. Angrily, she ignored the wrapped toothbrush he'd laid out for her and brushed her teeth with his instead, then spitefully running the bristles around the sink bowl before putting it back in it's place.

"Don't leave the apartment this morning." She looked up at her husband's suddenly serious face as he put her bags on the floor. "I'll be back shortly after noon. Wait for me here."

"Oh, I was thinking of taking a run while you were gone, maybe do some grocery shopping? I was going to make that stew you liked -"

"No!" he said sharply, interrupting Ari. "Just...just stay in here. I'll show you around when I return home. The right places to go."

All her loathing of the High Rise returned, this nasty behemoth that sheltered her husband. "I thought this was supposed to be the safest building in London," she said, "everyone and everything in it's place?" She said, unable to hide the sarcasm. “No rubbing elbows with the lower classes?"

He pulled her with him as he grabbed his briefcase and walked to the door. "This isn't the time for your progressive social rights speeches, Arianna. Just stay inside and I'll see you in few hours." Pressing her warm little body against his hard chest, Robert allowed himself one more kiss and left.

The chill and quiet of the apartment surrounded her as the door shut. Rubbing her arms briskly, Arianna walked back to the bedroom to put her clothes away. Pulling on some jeans and a pink cashmere sweater, she started looking around the bedroom again. The precise Dr. Laing was not one to leave trace of his activities, but she wanted to see if she could find any clue of what his life was like here.

The subject of her search was currently gripping the wheel of his Jaguar in London traffic, still deep in thought about his beautiful and suddenly stubborn wife. Seeing her trying to bribe her way into the High Rise yesterday was a huge shock. After leaving their townhouse the night she'd screamed he was a "monster" six months ago, Laing resolved to never see her face again. He still remembered her curled up against the headboard of their bed, sobbing and looking at him with a combination of fear and disgust that turned his stomach. Because she was right. He was a monster, and his clean little wife was utterly unequipped to accept someone like him. Robert shifted uncomfortably in his leather seat as another rebellious erection started pressing against his expensive suit. He'd sat in the chair facing his bed last night, watching his little wife sleeping after he'd fucked her senseless against his dining room table. Feeling Ari against him again was unimaginable - that tight, grasping quim, her lovely, silky body writhing under him. Irritably pushing his erection down, Laing got out of the car and headed into the surgical center. Scrubbing in, he remembered bathing her, his infuriating cock hardening yet again. Sitting so passively in the tub, trustingly letting him bathe all the pain and pleasure from her. But even after showering himself and scrubbing the table back to it's mirrored finish, Laing sat back in the chair and watched her again. He couldn't get in that bed and not tie her to the bed post and fuck her over and over on those 1,200 count sheets. He couldn't do that to her, not then.

His reputation as a brilliant surgeon was not unwarranted. Laing could focus with a laser-like precision on his patient in surgery without a single stray thought allowed to filter in. But when his nurse asked "what music would you like today, Dr. Laing?" He answered, "Vivaldi. Four Seasons." He went to work without quite acknowledging that he and Ari listened to Vivaldi while driving up the coast in Scotland on Route 66. Ari begged him to take down the top of his Jaguar and laughed as the wind whipped her hair back, sending it behind her like a silky bridal train.

"Where are you again?" Arianna's boss was still questioning her decision to take the week off.

"I'm at Robert's apartment, James. He asked me to stay for a week while we work on maybe getting back together."

There was skeptical silence before he answered cautiously, "are you sure that's what you want?" The Arianna who came to apply for work at his gallery last year was a smaller, shaken version of girl he knew now. Even with dark circles under her eyes and lips firmed to keep them from trembling all the time, she worked very hard to earn his trust as his new buyer. And she was excellent - but watching the little brunette wraith stumble through his gallery as she adjusted to the separation was painful to watch.

"Yes!" she said a little sharply. "I want to try. And the stubborn bastard is actually giving us a chance."

James laughed. "That sounds like it suits The Doctor Laing," he answered mockingly. "Well, you're right that the Zimbabwe shipment is the only really crucial thing this week. As long as you can help me Friday morning, we can live without you for a few days. Why don't you bring The Doctor Laing in with you for an introduction?"

Arianna tried to picture her husband's expression when James would attempt to throw himself onto the other man's chest for what he liked to call "the bro' hug." She was fairly sure James' enthusiastic affections would give Robert an aneurysm. "Maybe if you don't try your usual brand of homoerotic banter and chest fondling," she laughed.

"What the hell girl? I'm straight! It's bro' stuff, like in New York City!" he protested, wounded that she didn't appreciate his international flair.

"Are you wearing your baseball hat backwards again?" she asked. "You do remember that you're not a 23 year old gangster rapper in Manhatten but rather a 45 year old man with two ex-wives in Manchester?"

"Don't be mean now, you little tart." James paused, accepting a pile of packages from the delivery man before tucking the phone back under his chin. "Girl? You sure about this, then? You were in such terrible shape, little girl. I can't stand the idea of that happening again. Do you still love him, really?"

Love? Fear, desire, longing...all of those things, she thought. Which one was foremost, she wasn't sure. "I do." she said firmly. "So thank you for the last-minute request, dear. I truly appreciate it."

To Arianna's delight, whatever minion Robert assigned to go through her clothes included some of ballet gear and her toe shoes. "At least I'm sure he wouldn't let some guy paw through my panty drawer," she muttered, slipping on dance tights and a wrap sweater. Robert's dislike of casual contact extended to her, he'd always been expert about carefully gliding her through crowds and at parties to reduce the chances her being touched, especially with other men. Flicking on Robert's massive wall system, she found his music and ran down the choices. "Vivaldi, I think." The music soared and helped fill the empty space of her husband's apartment as Arianna happily began her stretches. Her eyes kept returning to the bulky walnut armoire in the living room, the only thing in the apartment that was locked. Every drawer or cubby she checked contained nothing more sinister than more of his medical books, athletic gear or household items. But that armoire...

Robert led the surgical team briskly through the recap on both patients before abruptly changing back into his suit and leaving the hospital's parking lot with a peal of the Jaguar's tires. Something about Arianna being alone in the middle of the sexual reek of the High Rise and the depraved upper floor inhabitants gave him a chill. He was sure she wouldn't leave the apartment, not after he told her to stay inside. He was pretty sure.

Swinging into a balançoire, Arianna angled her back into a long arch, swinging her left leg thoughtfully. The burn and pull of the muscles felt good. She'd never been afraid of pain, the dancer mused as she moved on to cambré, forcing her supple spine further back, her head nearly touching the back of her leg. Ballet was a notoriously uncomfortable art form, fraught with as many sprains and tears as the average rugby player. But what Robert did to her was a different kind of physical torment, and her old coping habits of getting through agony did nothing in the heat of the moment, tied to his bed fucked in a painful arch or bent over his knee writhing under a riding crop. The door opened and she heard her husband's measured steps walking to the window where she was stretching in the sunshine.

"You look beautiful, darling. I haven't seen you practice in an age." Laing slid his hands under her bent elbows, jerking her up slightly to go on pointe. He took advantage of her small gasp and additional height to kiss her before moving to hang up his coat in the closet, straightening the hanger and stowing his briefcase. He turned and loosened his tie, watching Arianna move to a demi détourné and arch to an en pointe through the turn. The play of sunlight along her strong thighs was gorgeous, filtering gently over her sleek skin as the lean muscles underneath flexed. While his wife was indeed dancer-slight and willowy, she was surprisingly strong after years of torturous dance training. She'd broken four toes once during a performance and finished before telling anyone what happened.

She looked up and smiled as she saw him watching her, hands in his pockets and leaning against the granite counter in the kitchen. "What are you thinking, Robert?"

He straightened and started torwards her. "Your stubborn refusal to stop dancing that night you broke your foot."

Ari laughed and transitioned to port de bras. "I still remember that expression on your face when you took off my slipper. You were so infuriated with me."

Robert shook his head irritably. "You'd risk ending your career just to finish a performance with a broken foot."

Switching to a soutenu, Ari's left leg rose about her head as she sustained on pointe on her right, hand lightly touching the window for support. "My foot wasn't broken, Robert. Just some toes. I've broken all my toes at least twice. Dance is pain, my instructors reminded us all the time."

Her husband slipped his arms under her with a snake-like speed, one hand pushing her leg to a nearly impossible arch, his other lifting her arms above her head. "And yet you're still so afraid of what you feel when I fuck you." he whispered into her ear. Startled, Ari placed her hand against the window again.

 

"It's different. What you do."

 

"Not really," his voice thickened as he leaned closer, still relentlessly stretching her leg and arm higher and higher. "You strain and shake holding your position in dance, sweating, muscles trembling in agony. Why?"

 

"Because..." Ari licked her suddenly dry lips and tried to focus. "To improve form. For the discipline of the dance." She could feel his hand leave her arm and slide sinuously over her breasts, tickling her nipples. He was a snake, she thought, a serpent from the Garden of Eden. He grunted briefly in her ear, distracted for the moment by her clenching abdomen, finally circling lightly over her pussy, tickling her swollen lips just so.

 

"Exactly," he purred. "Just as in our bed. The pain just precedes the pleasure as you hold the moment - hold, darling!" he said sharply as her pointe foot began to shake. "You strain through the agony and it strengthens you." His clever surgeon's fingers slipped inside her dance tights as Ari's eyes squeezed shut. "You think you can't bear it," he whispered as three thick fingers slid into her silky channel, the heel of his hand pressing hard against her clit. "But even as you're whimpering and moaning to me, you know how good it's going to feel if you can just hold..." His fingers were sliding faster and a small whine slipped through Arianna's clenched teeth, every muscle in red hot agony from holding the position for such an impossible amount of time. "Hold then, little girl. Almost there. Almost."

 

Every limb was shaking now and a whimper burst shamefully between her compressed mouth. Ari desperately wanted to relax her position. But she was equally desperate for the tight, coiling orgasm her husband was pulling from her. And worst, wondering what he'd do to punish her if she couldn't hold on. With a gasp. Ari's mouth dropped open as her silk walls clenched Robert's fingers to a standstill. Her dark serpent chuckled and shoved the heel of his hand firmly against her clit.

 

"You may come now."

 

With a wail, she caved into a ball, held by her husband's long arms as his hand ruthlessly continued to pull her orgasm from her, stroking, pressing and pulling under she started crying in earnest, begging him to let off the pressure of his hand. Laing removed his fingers and tightened his hold around her shaking form. Looking into her tearstained green eyes, he placed them in her mouth.

"See how delicious it can taste, darling?" Ari felt tears slipping through her spiky lashes as she mindlessly kept licking herself off Robert's hand, still shaking from the hot pulses of agony from her strained body.


	7. Meet The Neighbors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Just...ugh. The people in this book are so squicky. I threw in some smut to sweeten the chapter up. WHY am I driven to write this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going AU with the structure of the High Rise here, I haven't read the book, so I'm guessing some on the nasty classist structure hinted on from the review.

Robert held his shaking wife for a long time, petting her back and rocking her while her whimpers and shudders slowed, then stopped. Ari sagged against the silky wool of his jacket, eyes closed. He was absently stroking the back of her hair, gently letting down the tight bun she'd worn for ballet practice. She sighed, wishing it could always be like this between them, the times when he was content to simply hold her. The balance of kindness to indifference and even cruelty was always uncertain with her husband.

When he set her off his lap and stood up, Arianna reached her arms above her and stretched again, trying to get the last of the spasms to stop. Looking down at the gentle pull of muscle in his wife's slender back, Robert said "do you need a hot shower?"

Shaking her head and standing too, her green eyes tried to look up to his blue ones, still shy under his examining gaze. "It's fine. I'm all stretched out now." Laing leaned till his lips were against her ear, running his hand down over her twitching pelvis, one finger gently tapping against her opening under her dance tights.

 

"Yes," he purred. "Yes, you are."

 

And, just like that, his little wife was shaking again.

 

After tidying up, Arianna walked out to the master bedroom to see one of her dresses laid out on the bed. It was a soft red wool and clung closer to her curves than she usually preferred. One of her bras laid on top of the outfit, but no panties. Shrugging, she finished brushing her hair and slipped on her clothes after adding a pair of matching undies from the drawer. Robert walked in as she was smoothing the dress down over her thighs. Standing behind Ari and examining her in the mirror, Laing murmured, "Lovely. You should wear your hair down. I left your shoes by the door."

Carefully leaning back into his hard chest, she ventured, "Where are we going?"

 

"I'm taking you to lunch." His large hands slid down her waist and hips, long fingers meeting in the front. He paused as he reached her thighs. "What is this?"

 

Confused, she answered "What is what, Robert?"

 

"Did I lay out underwear for this dress?" His rough fingertips started inching up the soft wool dress over her thighs.

 

Arianna went still. She'd forgotten this game. "No - but I - I just thought you'd -"

 

"What?" He interrupted, pausing above her panty line and plucking the elastic disapprovingly. "You thought I'd forgotten something? My memory not clear enough?"

 

"No!" A nervous giggle burst from his Ari, “You never forget anything. Ever." This was a certainty.

 

"Then why," his voice turned to frigid again, "would you be wearing these, hmm?" He took her shoulders and whirled her, forcing herself to look at her reflection in the mirror behind her. Robert was still standing in front of her, looking over her shoulder, hands moving over her panties. "Look at that nasty break in the smooth line of your back to this sweet curve, this perfect bottom..." His large, warm hands were rubbing over her ass, but Arianna knew what was coming and couldn't relax enough to enjoy it, her green eyes still pinned to his blue ones glaring over her shoulder.

 

"Robert - it's just that this dress is a little snug, I have to wear something or everyone could see my - my, uh-"

 

"Your pussy? Darling, you shave so bare, everything is smooth and sweet. Keep those knees together like a good girl, and no one sees that dirty little kitty of yours. You can do that, can't you?" His voice was dark and poisonous again, eyes narrowing with amusement at his wife's anxiety. "Now, bend over, legs straight." Heart thudding, she numbly did as he asked. "Pull your dress up to your waist. Now, slide that lace off and hand it to me." One rough finger trailed her hands over her pussy as Arianna pulled off the offending garment and handed it to her husband, eyes down. A deep inhale and chuckle told her he was taunting her by smelling her scent from the lace. He turned her around again to face him finger under her chin to make her look up. "What happens when naughty girls disobey?"

 

"I didn't know we were following the old rules," she muttered, "I'm sorry, I'll remember from now on-"

 

"What. Happens. To bad girls?" Laing's voice cut her off.

 

"They get -" Arianna swallowed, disbelief that they were already deep into his games again. "They get a spanking." Taking her arm, he led her back into the bedroom and sat on the corner of the down comforter, legs spread.

 

She watched as he patted his thigh. "Come here and lay across my lap." Biting her full lower lip, his wife tried not to shake, wondering if it was just going to be his hand, or maybe he had a crop under the bed or worse, a paddle. They hurt so much, she hated those. "It's not wise to keep me waiting, sweetheart." Walking over, she gracefully placed her stomach over one leg, nervously pressing the side of her face against the other thigh. Lightly running his fingers over her neck, the impassive Laing could see the thready beat of her pulse increase in her carotid artery. "Pull your dress up to your waist." The soft shuffle over the red wool rising over her ass instantly hardened his cock, she could feel it thickening against her ribcage. "Now, since this is a first offense, let's just start with 10." Arianna's heart dropped with a thud. Ten? Her husband's hands were huge. And they hurt. "Count for me darling, or I start over."

 

His leg holding her weight hitched up, sending her off balance and forcing her to wrap her arms around his lean thigh, hair hanging down to the floor. The first slap was hard - much harder than Laing usually employed. Gasping, she whispered, “One." His warm palm rubbed gently over the pink hand mark left by his slap. The next strike was softer. "Two!" she said louder, relieved. The next was not soft, and Arianna yelped, "Three!" She blinked the tears back trying to spill, she wouldn't cry from a spanking. She had to be tougher than this. He'd never think she was serious. Then, she felt the rough pad of two fingers trailing through her slit and her rear tightened anxiously. It was so embarrassing that Robert made her wet, that she had to enjoy it when he punished her. He'd sometimes stop mid-spanking and play and tug on her clit until she became slippery. The next seven spanks were never the same, alternating in heat and intensity. the last spank was directly over her heated pussy and she yelped as he chuckled. Forehead pressed against his suit, she could feel his hand smoothing over her ass, the heat of his palm no longer comforting since her buttocks were on fire, but she relaxed anyway, grateful for the gentle touch.

 

Laing lifted her back to her feet and pulled the dress back down over her thighs. The itch of the wool over her reddened ass would make sitting at lunch miserable. "Time to tidy you up, darling." He led her into the bathroom again and smoothed the coconut oil over her reddened cheeks before patting them gently and heading for the front door. "Let's go," he chuckled, "I've worked up an appetite."

 

Walking down the hallway, Ari blinked irritably at the harsh chrome lighting above. She much preferred the muting of the outdoor light that filtered in through Robert's windows. The glare threw the faces that passed them into harder detail - a mother and son casting their eyes sideways at her. "Good afternoon, Dr. Laing," cooed the mother, "how are you today?" Robert returned the greeting as the boy stared at Arianna, a strange, malevolent glint in his eyes. He stuck the tip of his tongue between his teeth and wiggled it at her lewdly. Her eyes widened in shock, then narrowed dangerously as the boy gave her a greasy little smirk. Catching the tail end of the silent exchange Laing took a hard step into the boy, looking down with his mouth tightening. "Boy." he hissed, "is there a problem?"

 

The boy took three steps back with his mother and edged around the couple, "uh, have a nice day, sir!" He squeaked as his mother hustled him away. "How old is that child?" Arianna questioned, feeling vaguely queasy.

 

"Secondary-schoolish, I guess." her husband answered indifferently as he led her on. Stopping at a large set of walnut double doors, Laing opened them to reveal a small restaurant, elegant with plum cushions and dark wood. "Two please," he intoned to the greeter, who led them to a table by the window.

 

Looking around her and seeing faces of the other diners staring back, Ari asked "there's restaurants in the High Rise? How many?"

 

"One per strata," he answered indifferently, looking down at the menu. "You should try the salmon, it's very good."

 

"Fine," she said, putting down her own. "What does that mean, strata?"

 

His blue eyes lifted to hers again. She noticed they'd stayed the same icy shade since they'd left the apartment. "Three, based on the floors of the High Rise. We are in the upper."

 

"Of course," she retorted before she could stop herself. Hurrying on to avoid the tightening of her husband's jaw, she continued, "so each, uh strata has it's own facilities? Swimming pool, store, restaurant and such?"

 

"Yes," he agreed. Looking around at the faces staring back at them, his wife concealed a shudder. The diners were well-dressed; quality labels, high-end jewelry. Their expensively made-up faces held a greedy look as they stared at the couple, mouths moving in speculation. Arianna attempted to politely nod to a table of two women close to them. They didn't return the courtesy, leaning closer together and whispering furiously. Wondering with a flush if her husband had fucked them, she dipped her head and took a drink of her water. The food was good, Robert's standards high as always, but she had trouble tasting any of it, uncomfortable in the cold room with all the strange, avid faces. Even the servers leaned into her a little, staring as they poured her wine and placed her plate in front of her.

 

"One of the things I'd think you'd hate about here, Robert, is everyone knowing your business. These little communities seem to spend a lot of time discussing each other. You value your privacy so much."

 

Swallowing his bite, Laing impassively swept a glance over the staring dining room. Heads immediately dropped to their own plates. "I don't have much contact with these...people."

 

Once again, Arianna couldn't stop her retort, "why? Are they from a lower floor?" Her skin crawled a little as her husband simply shook his head and went back to his steak.

 

"No, the lower floors are not allowed here."

 

"So, THIS is the little sweet piece we've been hearing about! How wrong of you Robert, to not share her!" The voice above them was loud and coarse, aware he was disturbing the dining room and not caring. A heavy hand slammed down on her shoulder and squeezed. "And she is as lovely as I've heard, aren't you, poppet?"

 

Robert swiftly stood and took the man's offending hand off his wife, turning the rebuke into a courtesy with a quick handshake. He angled his body between the little brunette and the intruder. "Richard," he intoned, "how are you? This is my - this is Arianna Laing, Ari, this is Richard Wilder."

 

Embarrassed that Robert wouldn't call her his wife, Ari replied stiffly, "hello, Mr. Wilder."

 

He broke out into a large, leering smile, pulling out the chair next to Robert's and settling in. "Charlotte!" he barked, "over here!" The chair next to Arianna's was jolted and the big-titted blonde from the elevator slid in, knocking slightly into the dismayed brunette's shoulder.

 

"Well, look at you," she purred, "no worse for wear, then? I was certain I heard some screams behind Robert's door last night."

 

Horrified, Ari's eyes darted to her husband's impassive face.

 

"Haw, haw!" chortled Wilder, taking a large gulp of red wine from the glass he'd brought to the table. "Now Charlotte, you know I designed this building to be soundproofed. No pressing that nose into dirty business. We've conducted many...tests, all of us. Not a peep!" He started his loud, coarse laughter again. Her beating heart and embarrassment was sending a hot flush over Arianna's body, and she nervously pulled her dress down again, wishing desperately that she was wearing underwear. Charlotte's malevolent glance caught the movement and she leaned over to give her a little grin that made Ari's knees lock together.

 

"So!" boomed Wilder again, pushing his face closer to hers. "Are you bringing this lovely thing to the Royal's party Saturday? This is one of my favorite of the year."

 

"The Pagan's Ball," chipped in Charlotte with a lewd smile. "Unforgettable, really."

 

Laing leaned back in his hair, finishing his wine. "It would be a shame to miss it."

 

"Oh, you must come!" Charlotte's eyes were hot, "everyone's dying to meet your sweet little wife. Such a surprise to find our Robert was a married man!"

 

Ari's chin jerked, "we've been separated for a bit." Her fingers tightened around her napkin as Charlotte let off another peal of mean-spirited laughter.

 

"Oh, the handsome ones are always so hard to pin down, eh?" She knocked her shoulder into Ari's again, the movement shifting the red dress up her thighs. Wilder's thick lips twisted into a grin, looking down into her lap at the smooth thighs and her small fingers gripping the hem of her dress.

 

The cold Dr. Laing finally gracefully placed his napkin on the table and rose, walking around to pull out his shaking wife's chair. "It's lovely to see you both, perhaps Saturday, then." Placing a protective palm over the small of her back he led her quickly through the dining area to the door.

 

"Planning on you, then!" bellowed Wilder behind them. "The party of a lifetime, Dr. and Mrs. Laing!"


	8. True Love & Reptile Brains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter about background on the Laing's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading. Thanks to everyone for the kudos and to Candy-Flaps for the reviews, they really are such a nice thing for a writer - I'll have to be better at sending my appreciation for stories. :)

The sun was beginning to set in the winter sky over London as Dr. and Mrs. Laing made their way to back to the apartment. Ari was still shaken by the encounter with that blonde bitch and Wilder, the horrible, boorish architect. "We don't have to go that party, do we?" she asked.

Robert looked down at her as he closed and locked the door, one brow raised. "I'd think that with a career in the Fine Arts, you would be begging to meet Anthony Royal."

"The director?" she asked, startled. "The one who created all the documentaries about death?"

"He and his wife Ann occupy the penthouse floor of the High Rise. Their apartment is stunning," he explained as he poured a glass of Jameson for himself and held up an empty glass for her in question.

"Just club soda, please." Arianna knotted her hands together as she walked to her husband to get her drink. "Do you spend a lot of time with the Royals?" she asked, fearing the answer. Robert took a long, contemplative drink of Jameson before answering.

"Yes. Fascinating people. Appalling friends." A shiver went up her back as she looked into his flat blue eyes. She'd never seen him look so distant and reptilian. 

___________________________

Arianna's best friend back at Cambridge was working for her Anthropology degree, and they'd had many lively discussions in their cluttered, freezing dorm room about men and their tiny, reptile brains. "Darling," wheezed out Lizanne as she took another hit on her joint, waving the smoke away from a coughing Arianna, "you have to understand that really, mankind's mind hasn't changed much from when we first crawled out of the swamp water and lost that prehensile tail." 

Ari laughed, "you're going to have to elaborate here."

Lizanne continued to blissfully bring the reeking spliff to her mouth, "The human Reptile-Brain has been evolving for around 285 million years, and is similar in power and concept to the total brain capacity of a modern snake, which is why I refer to it as the Reptile-Brain. It is the portion that stores all the basest of mankind's urges. To fight. To fuck. To feed. Even to kill."

Her roommate frowned, "I'm fairly certain that millions of years of combined culture and education have allowed us to transcend that state as a species."

"Ooooh, darling," drawled out Lizanne, "you have read 'Lord of the Flies' in school, right? That was published in 1954 and still showed a completely accurate portrayal of the almost instant disintegration of society the moment the constructs failed. You think it's any better a few decades later?"

Ari stubbornly shook her head. "I don't agree. I think we're ruled by much stronger social programming." 

Stubbing out the joint and putting it back in her sweater pocket, Lizanne shook her head at her friend's insistence. "The basic truth is this, Ari. Men will descend to the level they think they deserve."

 

_________________________________________ 

The rest of the night was much better. Arianna was finally introduced to having sex in Robert's huge and comfortable bed. Twice. After the second round of completely blissful orgasms, she was too happy and relaxed to do anything but idly nuzzle his bicep as he caught his breath. Trailing one long finger over her quivering clit and hearing his exhausted wife moan, Laing chuckled and commented, "you never told me why you tried this audacious thing."

"What, trying to get back together?" she asked, rolling on her stomach and watching him. "Audacious?" She laughed.

"For you?" he retorted. "Audacious. Cheeky. Intrepid."

She took the chance of edging closer to him and putting her small hand on his chest, idly tracing his pectorals. "It was something my mother said, last time I was there on a visit."

His brows rose to his hairline. "Your mother? Rowena McCullough Lennox?"

"Yes," she laughed, "my mother. She told me that she felt badly that they'd sheltered me so much as a teenager. She wished she'd realized back then that she could trust me enough to let me make some mistakes. Mum said she felt like they hadn't given me enough tools for adult life by burying me in dance and school."

"Hmmmm," he murmured, facing the ceiling as he idly rolled her hair on his fingers.

"That's when I started reading up on - on - on our lifestyle -" she stopped and glared at him as he chuckled. "The edging, like today" she said a little proudly, "and the spanking. You being an obvious Dom. Maybe if I'd known more about it sooner it wouldn't have been such a shock. I didn't know much about men and sex, really. Much less being a sub."

Robert's brows drew together in his darkest scowl as he looked at her. "Edging? You little slut."

Breaking out in helpless laughter, his wife snuggled in again. "Robert?"

"Hmmm?"

"Was- was that why you married me? Because I was so ridiculously innocent and gullible?" Her eyes pleaded with him to lie to her, but Robert was never anything but ruthlessly truthful.

"Oh, God. I was drawn to you, all that sweet innocence and purity. For christ's sake, who intends to be a virgin on her wedding night in this day and age? It was incredibly erotic to show you something you'd never imagined. And playing with your soft little body...?"

She lowered her lashes, fighting the lump in her throat. She had to ask.

"But," her husband shifted, absently drawing her thigh over his muscled ones. "I sometimes didn't know what to make of you. How you'd laugh and wave your hands around. The way you'd sing so wildly and shamelessly off-key and try to make me dance with you. Your hair flying around you. Like light. You were like light." He frowned, puzzled. "Like happiness."


	9. Shibari Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So after all those warm confessions last night, this should be a golden, fuzzy morning, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having to look up all these bondage terms on Wikipedia is making me realize I must live a terribly narrow life.

Robert's blue eyes opened to the rain slamming against the huge window in his bedroom. It was pitch black and the unfamiliar warmth curled against his back made him stiffen until he recognized the soft breathing of his wife. Strange, he thought, to have to get used to having her beside him. It had been so easy to sleep without her again. Arianna was the first woman he'd ever let sleep in his bed after fucking her. He'd usually never brought women home at all. Rolling over and moving away from her, Laing watched as her small hand slid out in her sleep, searching for her lost source of warmth. She'd always fussed about the temperature at the town house, whining that he kept it so chilly. Every now and then his wife would parade back and forth in front of him, buried under piles of sweaters and a blanket, shivering dramatically, trying to make him laugh or at least turn up the thermostat. Pulling the thick down comforter over her shoulders, Laing stood and walked to the chair across from the bed. He stared at the soft form of Arianna under the white covers, taking a deep inhale and letting it out through his nose, rubbing one big hand over his forehead in irritation. What was he doing? Why was he wasting time on this impossible little girl?

He remembered the pride on her face last night when she carefully threw out words like "edging" and "Dom." Laing's thin lips curled into a cold smile. As if she was any fucking expert. She was horrified when he started anal play with her about a year and a half into their marriage. Carefully sliding a finger into her ass in the middle of her orgasm one night, he'd frowned in irritation as she gasped and tried to pull away from the invading finger even while spasming on his generous dick. "What- what are you doing?" she said fearfully.

"Shhhh," he said holding her hips down with one hand and keeping the finger from the other inside her. "This makes you come harder." Arianna's breath came faster, she could still feel the steel ridge of his cock under the frantic flutters of her pussy, and that sharp, rigid finger immobile in her ass. He was gently rubbing the invading digit over the thin tissue between his cock deep inside her and the clenched tunnel of her ass. "I can feel you coming from both sides," he'd murmured persuasively, kissing her plump lips and down around her neck, trying to relax her.

"I'm-I'm not coming anymore Robert, please let me up, okay? I don't like this." She placed her palms on his broad chest, trying anxiously to ease him off her.

Suddenly enclosing her in all those long arms and legs, Robert had looked down at her, his face in shadow in the bedroom. "So, now that you're done, you'll roll that selfish little body over and run off to hide in the bathroom?"

Arianna had tried to think clearly, but that hard, sharp finger was still in her ass and it scared her. "No Robert of course not - please let me suck you. I- I would love to taste you. Please?"

Her cold, dark lover actually paused that night and thought about it. As anxious as Ari was to please him, it had taken him six months to teach her how to suck and swallow him properly. But, he was wedged into his tiny wife in both directions and he was unwilling to let the lesson pass. "Am I hurting you?"

"Yes," her voice came out in an unattractive whine, a habit that drove him mad.

"Unbearably?" Laing's voice was at it's most unsympathetic that night, but the strain of holding still in her tight passages and not pounding her with fingers and cock straight into his headboard was intense.

A small sniff. "No."

"Then relax, little girl. It won't hurt as much. You're doing this to yourself." Robert finished that night inside both her pussy and her ass, and the feeling was unimaginable, the hot, wet pulses of his come through her pussy pushing against his finger still sliding through her ass. He'd pulled the finger out for a moment to pull some of the come dripping from her silken channel and used it to slide his finger back into her bottom. Ari laid still till he was finished and pulled himself from her. Even his aftercare that night was embarrassing, Laing wiping a wet cloth over her sore ass and running his fingers over the red, puffy ring to check for tears. But even though it was uncomfortable and distasteful to her, Ari let him continue over the next few weeks, even though she made it clear she was disgusted, lying stiffly on her back. He'd use his fingers sometimes, then a small, cigar-shaped spreader.

Blinking back to the present, Laing took another long, measured sigh as he rested his head on one contemplative fist.

An hour later, a housekeeper wiping down the mirrors and chrome of the upper-floor gym passed by Dr Robert Laing, furiously working the elliptical machine. She was going to ask him if he needed a bottle of water - his white shirt was dripping sweat. But after catching a glimpse of his ice blue eyes and gritted teeth, she gathered her spray cans and moved quickly in the other direction.

'Waking alone again,' Arianna thought blearily as she sat up in the bed the next morning. Looking to her left, she was reassured to see the rumpled covers that proved that her dark husband was at least there for some time as she slept. Yawning and rubbing her long curls out of her face, she looked up as the door opened, Laing looking at her expressionlessly. He was already dressed in a sharply pressed charcoal suit and snowy white shirt. He finished his cuff links and flicked his shirt sleeve under his jacket with a twist. "Why don't you come into the kitchen, darling? I have something for you."

Pulling on some yoga pants and a tank top, Ari followed him into the huge common room where he stood by the dining room table. "Good morning," she smiled, trying to gauge his mood, "I can make some breakfast-"

"I'll need to be at the hospital soon," Laing interrupted, "but I thought you'd like to come with me, run some errands and get outside."

"Yes!" It burst out of her too fast to hide her relief, and her husband looked at her with a thin smile. "That would be great, I can pick up my lap top from home and do some shopping. Would you like me to make one of your favorites for dinner?" She desperately wanted to avoid that horrible restaurant again.

"Then let's get you ready. Take those off," he said, gesturing to her yoga pants. Arianna smiled a little, confused. He didn't have that intent, blue-green gaze she was used to when he was aroused, but maybe a romp this morning would put him a better mood. Even though she was still sore from two enthusiastic poundings last night, her treacherous, toned thighs were already rubbing against each other. Quickly slipping off her top and the yoga pants, Ari smiled up into his eyes, waiting for him to pull her in for a kiss. Robert instead reached for a tan bundle resting on the dining table. "Raise your arms." He moved behind her and slid her bra from her shoulders, then she felt her panties around her ankles. "The Shibari rope," he began conversationally, "was originally used as an ancient Japanese form of bondage. The fibers are soft." He held a length of rope in front of her. "Touch it." She did, feeling the soft cotton fibers. "It doesn't scratch and tear at the skin like most coarse forms of binding do." One huge hand reached out to take the other end of the rope, and Robert suddenly snapped it taut with a snap. Arianna jumped at the sound and flushed. "But it's very strong," he continued as he started winding it around her waist, crossing it between her breasts and over her shoulders. "The Shibari masters could create art that would suspend the human body in over 500 positions. For hours, even days."

Oh, shit...Arianna thought numbly. Where was this going? "Open your legs, darling." Doing as she was told, she could feel the brush of Robert's arm on her bare hip as he continued a complicated winding over both thighs and then with a tug, between her legs in a double strand. Tucking the ends behind her, Robert neatly tied the loose ends up over her ass. "Walk for me." Ari could feel his eyes burning into her as she walked in a hesitant circle around the table. The rope links didn't hurt, just pulled at her breasts, sliding over arms and legs and tugging slightly at her pelvis. "Is the rope too tight anywhere?" he asked, running two fingers between her skin and the bindings.

"No," she said hesitantly, "but I thought we were in a hurry to leave?"

Another thin smile from her diabolical spouse. "We are. Get dressed." He held up an outfit for her, one of her long cotton skirts and a silky sweater top. As she bent down to retrieve her underwear, one polished shoe pushed them away. "Just these, darling." Arianna did as she was told, then quickly brushed her hair and added a little makeup, hurrying back to the front door. The ropes pulled and twitched against her, sparking nerves under her skin and unsettling her. Worst was bending over, when the twin strands of rope between her legs rubbed insistently over her clit and spreading her lips around them. "Here's your boots, darling. It's going to be wet today." Robert handed her the three inch suede boots brought with her luggage from the town house. Slipping the boots on and standing up, Ari swayed and gasped, the change in posture from the high heels suddenly threw the rope binding her into sharper focus, tightening around the bottom of her breasts and up the curve of her bottom. Her husband was watching her closely, strong jaw tightening as he watched the involuntary movements of her body.

"How long am I wearing this today, Robert?" she asked.

"Until I take it off you. Let's go."

Riding down in that glaringly bright elevator, Ari knew it wasn't the first time her husband sent her out into public wearing something under her clothes, or nothing at all. The vibrator in her panties that would start from a quick click of a tiny battery wand in his hand - that was the hardest. But she kept quietly checking to see if the ropes could be seen under the soft length of her clothing in the repeated reflections of the mirrors surrounding her. Robert kept silent, watching her nervous glimpses with a small curl of the lips. She was exquisite; as always when he pushed her, her natural grace would conflict with her discomfort and embarrassment. The balance of the two in his beautiful wife was the most painfully erotic thing to watch.

Just as they were about to head of the front door, Arianna saw the little shop she'd sat by the first day. "Oh, Robert - could you give me a minute? I just want to buy some mints, I won't be a moment."

He took her arm and started leading her to the front door. "We'll get some on the way."

"That's silly, I can just run in and be out in a second, the shop's right here-" He pulled her in front of him and put his face into hers.

"You will not. Step. Foot. In the lower level shop. Am I clear? Now, come." Green eyes wide, his wife nodded and started walking outside. In the reflection of the doors closing, she could see huge man the kids called Mr. Jake staring back at her with flat, black eyes.

There was silence in the Jag as Robert pulled out of the parking lot, Arianna so happy to see the gloomy concrete High Rise in the rearview mirror. She broke the silence. "I know you like things in a certain way, Robert. I'm sure you picked High Rise because it caters to some of your tastes. But- really? You wouldn't let me step foot in the lower level market? Why?"

He refused to turn his gaze to her, focusing instead on the wet road and morning traffic. For a moment she thought Laing was ignoring her, then he spoke. "You don't belong there." Looking out her window, Ari was momentarily grateful he hadn't looked at her after all. She was was sure his gaze was flat and reptilian again.

After helping her out of the car, Robert handed her the keys in the hospital parking lot. "Meet me back here around two, Ari." He slipped his hand under her loose sweater, gently tracing the rope around her waist. "Maybe one," his voice dropping with want.

Blushing, she took the keys. "Are you sure you want me driving the Jag? I can call a cab..."

Still tracing the rope lines, her husband shook his head. "You're a good driver." Brushing her lips with his, the doctor turned and strode into the surgical center.

Setting the Jaguar in the direction of the townhouse, Ari shook her head. Robert raised many contradictions when it came to the Dom personality, at least according to her research. During their courtship and marriage, he'd often bought clothing and jewelry for her and sometimes picked out her outfits. But he never dictated a certain style. He didn't monitor her friends or control the amount of alcohol she was allowed to consume - things many Dom lists seemed to contain. He easily let her use his unimaginably expensive Jaguar when her ancient Range Rover was in the shop, and after an initial discussion of what car they should buy for her since the Rover was clearly on it's last legs, shrugged when she insisted on keeping it. It had belonged to her grandfather first, and Arianna adored the ancient thing.

In fact, she thought as she turned the wheel into the driveway of their red brick townhouse, according to her readings, it seemed out of character for Robert to be a Dom. Most Doms thrived on the lifestyle because of lack of control in other areas of their life. But there was no unattended second of her husband's life where he didn't rule with absolute iron certainty. Walking through their glossy black front door, Ari picked up the mail and looked around the immaculate foyer. Since Robert already had a beautiful house in Knightsbridge, she'd moved there as his new bride. She was too easy-going and quickly intimidated to place much of a personal stamp on his home. But when Robert moved out, Ari committed what her friend Lizanne called "painting in anger." Instead of the same subtle oyster shade throughout, the kitchen was a mint green, the dining room a sunny yellow and the study a cosy dark grey.

 

The night Arianna tackled the domain of her husband and dragged the can of grey paint into Robert's study, Lizanne was over, drinking red wine and swinging idly in the big leather chair behind the desk. "Why are you even doing this, sweetheart? Aren't you going to move soon? It's not like you can afford a £1,305,055 mansion on a curator's salary."

 

"I just want to," sniffed her friend, taking another defiant swipe of paint. Lizanne flinched as a splat of grey landed on the walnut desk. Ari was an enthusiastic and sloppy painter. "Everything just so with him! And I want to do something that shows...I don't know. That I was even here." Starting to cry again, Arianna slumped down on the couch, the wet paintbrush hovering over the 100 year old oriental rug.

 

"Pet," Lizanne seized the brush while dropping a kiss on the forehead of the sobbing brunette, "you've never told me what precipitated the Big Move, but believe me, you've made your mark. As cold a fish as Doctor Robert Laing may be, everyone knows he adores you. And you, my darling are an angel. You could have turned Hilter into a pussycat. If you couldn't tame The Great Doctor Laing, no one can." All of Arianna's friends insisted on referring to her husband in capital letters. "He has such _gravitas_ ," they'd tease, "surely there's no lower cases with Doctor Robert Laing." "So, it's been, what-3 months? What's the plan?" her friend continued, pouring herself another glass of Robert's expensive Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac.

 

Running a hand through the long locks escaping her messy bun, Arianna sighed. "I don't know. My solicitor sent him a notice that his firm would receive the divorce papers as soon as Robert was ready to send them. In the meantime, he's still kept payments on everything here without comment. I've called his office, emailed him, texted him..." she angrily put another swipe of gray on the wall, "and he won't answer me. In fact, he told his office not to accept any messages from me."

 

Lizanne leaned forward, "then sweetheart, why are you still here?"

 

Watery green eyes looked up at her. "Because...because... I keep hoping he'll come home." She started crying misterably again. Lizanne sighed and put the lid back on the paint can.

 

Moving through the house and picking up a few odds and ends to take back with her, Arianna irritably rubbed her stomach under the Chibari ropes. Her husband always managed to keep her thoughts on him, even when they were apart with games like these. Her pussy was already swollen and uncomfortably stimulated, but she wouldn't take bindings off. Robert knew she wouldn't. Heading up to the bedroom, she bit her full lip and looked at a hatbox on the closet's upper shelf. Making her decision, she dragged it down and put the contents in her bag and headed back out the front door. The text from her husband came at exactly 1:30, and she giggled a little that he'd finished early for her.

"Turning into the parking lot now." AL

 "Come in for a moment." RL

 "You sure?" AL

 "...." RL

 "Of course, you're always sure ;)" AL

 "Emoticons," Robert said distastefully, looking at his iPhone.

 Even during their marriage, Arianna rarely visited her husband's office at the surgical center, only to drop off lunch or bring something he'd needed from home. He had a team of two grim German nurses who ran everything in his office, and they did not welcome chitchat or anxious new wives. She nodded at them nervously as Robert came out to take her arm and lead her into his office. He looked so handsome in his white doctor's coat, she thought. Seeing her husband in his awe-inspiring professional setting was suddenly a turn-on and she stood on tiptoes to initiate a kiss, something she almost never did first. His brow quirked, "did you get everything you needed?"

 

"Mmmmmhmmmm," she agreed, running her hands down his crisp jacket. Sniffing, she asked "what's that smell?"

 

Laing shrugged, "Paint. They've been upgrading the surgical suites." He took her into the next room and flipped on some of the lights. "We needed facilities closer to the office for some of the diagnostic procedures." He walked up behind her, large palms sliding over her hips. "How do you feel?" Ari sucked in a pained breath. He felt so good behind her, his warmth radiating on her back in the cold room. She could feel his nose in her hair, sending the fine hairs on her neck aloft. He was carefully running his hands over the path of the Chibari he'd bound on her that morning and humming in an approving way. The vibrations tingled through the brunette's sensitive ear and her head dropped back on his chest.

 "Fine," she managed to breathe, "it's just..."

 "Yes?" he whispered, tugging slightly on the loop over her left breast, then gently rubbing his thumb over the stiffening bud of her nipple, left, right. Left, right...

 "Oh," Arianna groaned, "it's...ah...it's intrusive." His hands went to the hem of her sweater, pulling it off. Lightly running the calloused pads of his fingers over her breasts, stroking the red marks from the rope. The skirt was next, slipping to her ankles as Robert's physician's hands examined her ass, then slipped between her wet and swollen lips to test the rope there with a sudden tug. "Ah!" Ari gasped, eyes still closed. She felt him turn her and gently push her back on to the exam table, the crisp white sheet ruffling under her. Opening her dazed eyes, she shivered to see him looming over her, still in that white doctor's coat and lifting her feet, fitting them into the extensions at the bottom of the table. Pulling her knees apart, he let out a long, pleased hiss. His pretty little wife's pussy was bright and uncomfortably red from the gentle, continuous rubbing of the Shibari bonds. His thumb ran over her sore clit, already coaxed from it's hood and swollen eagerly. "Ooooh," moaned Arianna, her hips helplessly moving up to his.

 Pressing his broad hand down on her belly, Laing shook his head. "Be still or I'll have to restrain you, darling."

 "I'm sorry," she moaned, "I'm so- ugh, I don't know, it's -" Her usual shyness abandoned her, the intimidation of his office and the disapproving German nurses gone. "Ah!" she yelped louder as he absently flicked her clit again. The yelp changed to a wail when Robert's head darted down to her swollen lower lips, licking and gently biting them as his moaning wife tried to grab blindly at his hair. He took a lunge into her canal with his tongue before pulling away. She moaned helplessly, her arms still raised to him pleadingly.

 "I'm very disappointed in you, darling. You can't follow a simple request?" He taunted her, running his fingers down her thighs and pushing her knees further apart.

 "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Robert-" she moaned, "it feels so-" Clicking his tongue disapprovingly, Robert pulled a length of rubber surgical tubing from a drawer and swiftly clamped her feet to the pullouts, moving around to her hands and binding them to the bed rail above her head. Her pink nipples were peaked desperately on her heaving chest, and the doctor looked at his moaning wife with amazement. Ari loved sex - more precisely, the vanilla kind - and loved to please him. But he'd never seen her this wanton and desperate before. She was by nature so shy, it usually took her a glass of wine or some toying with her sensitive parts to loosen up and eagerly participate.

 Running one hand  down the center of her chest, Laing paused by her pelvis, teasing his fingers up and down her slit, too lightly to add anything but more over stimulation. "Can you be a good girl now?" he whispered, "is that naughty little kitty going to behave for Daddy?" He jerked sharply on the rope between her legs when she didn't answer quickly enough.

 "Ah! Robert!"

"These sweet little lips," he mused, pinching her pussy lightly, "so slick. I've never seen them so swollen. Were you walking around the market, feeling the rope stroke that greedy little clit of yours? Bending for the apples, rising on tiptoe to fetch a soup can?" Another tug.

 "Robert! Oh, God, please don't - ah!"

 His brow quirked with interest, his Ari was getting louder and louder, another completely unprecedented departure from her usual sighs and moans. Putting his mouth just next to her ear, he whispered in that deep, poisonously sensual way. "Were you rubbing this sweet little pussy on my leather seat? Did you leave a mess? Will the Jag reek of your slippery kitty when we drive home?" Ari was so desperate she was almost crying, her hips moving back and forth, helplessly trying to find his lips or his hands again. Robert pulled a pair of bandage scissors from another drawer and briskly cut the Chibari bindings from his increasingly louder wife. Licking his fingers, he started gently patting her throbbing clit. "What do you want, my angel?"

 "Sweetheart - please just -please!" The taps on her painfully sensitive clit were getting sharper and sharper, and Arianna couldn't remember where she was, why she couldn't move her hands, even that she was nearly screeching her desperation. "I want- please, you need to- OH!" She shrieked this time as her diabolical lover pulled briskly on her clit, twisting it between two fingers.

 "What. Do. You. Want, darling? Tell Daddy what you want and he'll give it to you. Tell Daddy to make it better." While keeping those two fingers on her red-hot clit, Robert slid two fingers, then three into her grasping pussy. "What do you want, babygirl? You have to use your words." He tickled the spongey spot insider her, the one so deep that Ari's small fingers could never reach there. Then, his dammable, clever, horrible fingers stopped dead. "Tell Daddy now or I'll take everything away and walk out of this room."

 "No!" she shrieked, "please, please don't do that, Daddy! Please fuck me! Please give me, give me your- your cock and-" Ari wailed in relief as Robert shoved the tip of his cock into and leaned his hips in, starting to push through her clenching walls as his lips fell to one nipple, biting it sharply. It took her only three thrusts to come, sobbing loudly in her relief and keening as he greedily pounded through her. He felt impossibly hard, even larger than usual, with her legs up and leaning in as he thrust. Robert usually employed more care, he'd once pounded his petite wife hard enough to really hurt her before learning the inside of her silky channel. But with one hand pressed against her stomach, he couldn't stop.

 "Come with Daddy again, little girl." His voice was gutteral, barely recognizable.

 "I can't- it's too much- oh, GOD, Robert!" Pressing harder, he felt the frantic fluttering from the delicate tissues around her cervix, and the audible "click" as the broad head thrust through into her womb. "Oh, DADDY!" Arianna let out a scream that matched the volume of his growl as he exploded inside her, the heat of his come pooling in her stomach.

 He fell onto her sweating, heaving chest, "Ari," he groaned. The two pressed together in the dim surgical room until Laing built enough energy to gently untie his shaking wife's wrists and ankles from the surgical tubing, rubbing her numbed fingers. Finally pulling his cock out of her, they both moaned a little. Tidying her and cleaning up the scraps of rope and tubing, Robert pulled her to her feet, holding Ari's swaying body as he re-dressed her. Burying her face into his chest, she started giggling. He pulled back to look at her. "What?"

 Ari fell into another round of giggles, "I knew you should have been a gynecologist instead of a brain surgeon."


	10. Come Out, Come Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting weird at the High Rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing Royal's speech in this chapter. I actually had a professor from South Africa who gave us a very similar lecture.

Arianna was actually embarrassed about how bonded she felt to her husband. She fell asleep that night with a huge, dreamy smile. She was so sore that she could only sleep in a fetal position, but she did it with her head on Robert's chest, listening to his solid heartbeat. Listening to the contented rise and fall of his tiny wife's breath, Laing laid still until he couldn't bear it any longer, slipping her head off his pectorals and tucking her back in. Back in the chair across the room, he stared at her with his thumb running absently over his lower lip. The screaming, writhing erotic surprise of his shy bride that afternoon still confounded him - the obvious pleasure she took in the roughest sex he'd ever put her through was already making his treacherous cock stiffen. Had she actually changed? How could it be so different than the reluctant and anxious acceptance he'd seen through their brief marriage? The moment had been so intense that he'd actually become someone different from the noted neurosurgeon Dr. Laing. Instead he'd become the carnal madman fucking his wife in his examining room, with the screams most likely echoing through the reception and office area. Yet, it was some of the most intense and satisfying sex of his life, and Laing ignored the stiff and shocked expressions on his grim German team as he led Arianna from the hospital.

Shifting uneasily, Robert started seeing the lines of his rigidly ordered life beginning to blur.

Something thumped on the balcony next to theirs, and it was loud enough to wake Arianna. Creeping under the covers and looking out, she saw the couple next door on the adjoining balcony, throwing bottles off the ledge and laughing raucously as the glass shattered below. Hiding in the sheer curtains at the edge of the window, she watched with a growing anxiety as the bottles kept flying. A car siren went off in the parking lot, and she wondered how good their aim was. "This isn't a fraternity house," she thought, "these are wealthy, educated people. What is going on?" After a while the couple apparently ran out of bottles to toss and staggered back in, laughing and shrieking to each other. Looking around, Ari realized Robert was again missing from the huge, white bed.

Rubbing her arms and walking into the living room, she found him in a chair looking out the window, a neglected glass of Jameson on the arm. "Robert?" she whispered, "can't you sleep?" He stirred and looked at her. In the dim light from the city, his eyes were a flat blue again.

"No," he said and turned his head to look out again.

"Um, didn't you hear that crazed couple next door? I woke up because they were throwing bottles off their balcony. The glass was smashing everywhere, I even heard a car alarm go off. I'm glad you park the Jag in the west lot." Her little attempt at humor went unnoticed as Laing continued to stare out the window.

"Will you come back to bed?" she asked shyly, "I could rub your back. That used to help, sometimes."

Another slow turn of his head to look at her. "No, I'm going to stay up for a bit."

Tears started to prick Ari's eyes. The blank eyes of her husband and his robotic response was beginning to frighten her. "Well, then maybe I could sit with you for a while?" Gathering her courage, she crept over to the chair and carefully sat down, putting her legs over Robert's lap. At first, he stayed motionless, then slowly placed one large arm around her shoulders and drew her in a bit. Sighing with relief, his wife gently put her head on his shoulder. "Robert?"

"Hmmmm."

"Do you remember our honeymoon? When I wanted to spend the night outside the villa on that huge chaise lounge and listen to the ocean? You told me we'd catch our death from the morning fog, but we didn't. We looked at the stars and talked all night, remember?"

There was finally a short grunt of amusement from the man she was curled against. "Till the sun came up, I believe. And then we took a naked swim."

"After you hid my bikini!" Ari laughed. "That was the happiest night of my life."

Robert seemed to come back to the present a little and looked down at her, his brow quirked. "I thought for women the wedding day or something was supposed to be the happiest day of your life?"

She shook her head against his chest. "The wedding was beautiful, but that day was for everyone else. That night at the villa, that was ours."

Listening to her breathing slip back into sleep, Laing gently tightened his grip around his wife and continued to stare out his window.

 

The next morning, Arianna found herself again in the bed, alone. "Robert must have carried me back in at some point," she thought. Her husband walked into the bedroom at that moment, wearing his running gear and handing her a cup of coffee. "Thank you," she smiled, "did you end up getting any sleep at all?"

"A little," he answered, getting up to pull some clothing for her out of a drawer. "I thought I'd take you for a run."

"Yes, please!" she eagerly bounced out of bed. She loved running with her husband, even though his ridiculously long legs ate up the ground at twice the pace, they still kept together. It moved her that he would alter his rigid exercise routine for her. Heading out the front door, she asked "are there some good running paths around here?"

"No need," Robert answered, hitting the button on the elevator. "There's a magnificent running path that circles the roof of the High Rise. It's an amazing view."

"Oh," she answered, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

The view was incredible from the top of the looming concrete monster, the wind whipping around the corners of the building and sending a red flush into their faces. Gasping to keep up, Arianna couldn't be happier. There was a thin sheen of sun filtering through the clouds and the strong muscles of her husband's legs kept distracting her. Deliberately falling back for a moment. she admired his taut ass in his shorts. "Falling behind, wife," came a warning from the front.

"Yes, and it's a lovely behind indeed," she laughed.

Laing stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, stretching his legs and shaking them. "What did you say?"

Hiding her smile behind her hand, Ari stepped close to whisper, "I was admiring your perfect ass." A slow grin broke out over his beautiful lips, but before he could reply to her flirting, a bellow from behind made them turn.

"Thought it was you, Laing! What are you doing, you mad bastard?" The man shouting at them was dressed in a filthy silk bathrobe and expensive linen loungewear.

Running his hand through his hair, Robert turned to greet him. "Royal, good morning, or- good late night as it seems for you."

Arianna recognized the man; she'd been required to watch three of his documentaries in film class at Cambridge. His sharp black eyes locked in on her, and a slow, gracious smile crossed his weathered face. "And this," he said, taking her hand and kissing it, "must be the charming Mrs. Laing. You're even lovelier than I was told, my dear. Welcome to the High Rise."

Everything about the man was making her heart pound, an uncomfortable, greasy feeling twisting in the pit of her stomach. Retrieving her hand, Ari tried to remember her manners and smiled. "Thank you Mr. Royal. It's a pleasure."

He stared at her fixedly for a moment, and she fought down a panicked sensation that the man knew he disgusted and terrified her. Then another charming smile broke Royal's face as he turned to point behind him. "We were just sitting down for brunch. You must join us."

To her dismay, Laing immediately accepted and took her arm, following their host up a flight of stairs to a magnificent, glassed-in terrace. "That's right," Arianna said politely, "Robert told me you had the penthouse apartment here. He told me that it was astonishing."

A regal wave of his hand, and Royal chuckled, "all as it should be, here at the High Rise." They were greeted by 6 more people, including a couple of the flight attendants Arianna recognized from the apartment across the hall, a gorgeous woman dripping with diamonds, a pleasant looking man, and to her dismay, Wilder, the loutish architect. "My friends!" boomed their host, "Laing has emerged with his bride! Lovely Mrs. Laing, this is my wife Ann-" the diamond woman raised a languid hand, "Wilder, heard you met him the other night- and Dr. Pangbourne." Noticing Mr. Royal hadn't considered the girls worth introducing, Ari smiled and reached across her hand. "Arianna Laing." Both startled, clearly not expecting the gesture and reached back to shake.

"Elizabeth." said one.

"I'm Keely" from the other.

The conversation had already moved on behind her, and Arianna felt Robert's hand guide her to a seat. The table seemed to be laughing over a fight on floor 28 last night, where apparently a wife and a mistress ran into each other. "I heard they had to call housekeeping for all the blood and hair chunks," laughed Ann Royal, finishing off her mimosa and signalling for another.

"Keep the schedule straight, that's what I say," chortled Wilder, gripping another glass of red wine.

Royal looked back to the newcomers, and his black eyes narrowed. "So, lovely Mrs. Laing, what do you think of my building?"

Ari looked uncertainly between Robert and their host. "Your building? Oh, I thought Mr. Wilder here was the architect-"

The table broke out in laughter. "Oh, Wilder, taking credit where it's not due again, eh? Is that getting you any new commissions, you amoral prick?"

Even disliking him as she did, Arianna felt terrible as she watching an ugly red flush clog Wilder's cheeks. "I am the architect. But Mr. Royal is the designer and mastermind behind the build and social strata of the High Rise."

Attempting to change the subject, Dr. Pangbourne leaned across the table, "Robert, I don't think I ever told you I studied cardiology under your father at Oxford. A brilliant man. Heard it was quite the scandal you went to Cambridge instead?" The rest of the table went on with the gossip about the fight and other social humiliations while the Laings chatted quietly with Pangbourne. He had a kinder face, and Arianna was relieved he'd pulled them from the uncomfortable moment. Her husband smiled ruefully, taking a sip from his champange glass.

"Father was not happy with me, it's certain. But fathers rarely are, am I right?"

Looking down at her napkin, Ari felt a swell of sorrow. The one time she'd met Robert's parents had been horrible. They hadn't come to their wedding. When she'd asked her fiance for their address to send the beautiful engraved invitation on thick white paper, he'd shrugged. "I've told them about our engagement. Mother isn't well, they won't be able to attend."

"That's terrible!" she was stricken, imagining her family not there to greet her, her father not there to walk her down the aisle.

Robert's face was impassive as he tossed the invitation back on the table. "Not really. They're quite a bit older than your parents, Ari. It would be a burden for them to travel."

She took his hand and smiled, "well, we'll send them pictures. Maybe we can drive up and visit them after the honeymoon? I'd love to meet them at last."

His eyes were flat and blue when they rose to hers. "Perhaps."

The two doctors were still in conversation when she tried to pay attention again, discussing the merits of Oxford vs. Cambridge. Pangbourne took a drink and then smiled, "and how is your brother? He was at a very good care center, I recall. I'd actually consulted on a couple of cases there."

Robert's voice was emotionless. "Jeremy passed away last year. Natural causes from his condition."

"I'm truly sorry," the other doctor's regret was sincere. Royal interrupted them before they could move on.

"Lovely Mrs. Laing!" he barked. "I heard you caused a stir at the lower market yesterday."

The table all leaned forward. Without thinking, she replied "you've really heard that I tried to stop for a pack of mints?" Arianna felt Robert stiffen next to her.

Royal stared at her malevolently, then chuckled. "You see dear, the High Rise is more than our home. It is a progressive social experiment and a microcosm of classist structure. Things are done in a certain way here, for a certain reason."

"Perhaps you could help me understand, Mr. Royal." she said sweetly. "For instance, what would be the unintended consequences of my trip into the lower level store?" Ari was shy, but she wasn't stupid. Years of dealing with diva dance instructors and pompous art buyers taught her that an admiring tone and asking for their "expertise" defused an explosive situation. She hated this man, she hated the influence he seemed to have on her husband, and she hated everything about the loathsome concrete pile she felt trapped in. But Ari was smart enough to know he could cut her to ribbons verbally.

Steepling his fingers thoughtfully, his black eyes examined her. "You see, dear. Society serves a purpose. Most of mankind craves the protection and security of their place. Like cow or a sheep nuzzling the fence, they long to know their boundaries are there. We have a system here that supports this. The three layers of the High Rise shelter the residents in the strata they understand, with those like them. The foods they find in their market are familiar, the recreational facilities the kind they enjoy. Forcing residents into an unfamiliar milieu unsettles them, makes them aggressive. As the same when their strata is trespassed from above. Seeing you in their store, buying their food in your lovely cashmere coat and gigantic diamond ring. Then sprouts jealousy, resentment." His thin lips parted as Royal leaned closer her, placing a fatherly hand on hers. "You, for instance. Educated in the finest schools, trained rigorously for the Arts. Your father's a doctor as well, correct? I'm sure he understands this, having placed you in all the best opportunities."

Arianna could feel the deathly stillness of her spouse next to her, but she couldn't stop herself. "It's true that my father is a physician, as is my brother. But the Lennox Clan are historically sheep farmers. My grandfather owned the largest sheep holding in Scotland and worked very hard to put my father into medical school. My brother and I were expected to work summers on the estate to help. At shearing time, everyone worked together to bring the herd in. My grandparents, my father, our temporary workers from Asia, their children. The undertaking was huge, and without us working together it never could have been accomplished. We celebrated together, ate together. I guess I was too unaware to feel this social disturbance." The silence around the table was broken only by the wind rushing around the top of the building. Looking around, Ari could see the mixed expressions of contempt and incredulity.

Royal broke the silence with a chuckle. "How delightfully...earnest your wife is, Robert. Charming, really. Now, who thinks Ambassador Kohl will be bringing that Thai whore of his to the party Saturday?" Relieved chatter broke out around the table again.

Riding in silence down the elevator next to Robert, Ari said "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friends." His blue eyes met hers in the endless mirrors surrounding them. He was studying her intently, a slight frown on his dark brows.

"You don't have to apologize for what you believe in, Arianna." The door opened as he walked out, leaving his open-mouthed wife to hurry after him.

His cell was still buzzing as they came into the apartment, and Laing checked it to find repeated texts from the hospital. "Darling, I'm sorry. I cleared today but they have an emergency case with a complication. I need to go in for a couple of hours."

Arianna shrugged, she was raised knowing the demands of a doctor and usually kept the whining to a minimum when her husband was called away. "Of course, I've got work to do online for the gallery, so I'll keep busy and have dinner ready when you're back, all right?" He came back out of the bedroom knotting his tie and picked up his briefcase. Hovering by the door, Ari wondered if he was actually angry about the scene at Royal's table. He bent his dark head down to hers and kissed her deeply as her toes curled. So, not mad then.

But trying to scroll through the inventory of the pottery arriving from Zimbabwe tomorrow, she couldn't concentrate. Shutting her laptop, Arianna started pacing the floor to ceiling windows lining the apartment. How did Royal know so much about yesterday? She knew Robert wouldn't volunteer anything, he was notoriously private. How did that creepy bastard know about the market? How did he even know what she was wearing? She shuddered, thinking about the blank and avid faces around the table while the director outlined his "grand" social experiment. Ari knew that telling Royal she was the grand-daughter of a sheep rancher automatically made her nothing in his eyes, and she was certainly fine with that. But she worried that Robert would feel the backlash. No matter how much she hated it here, for the last 6 months, it had been his home.

She was distracted by a scratching at the door. It changed to a rhythmic thumping as she got closer. "Hello?" she asked, trying to peer out the spyhole in the door. "Who's there?" Angling her green eyes down, she could see the top of a man's head crouching by the door. She yelped and jumped back a little as he shot up and poked his eye at the fish hole glass. It was Wilder.

"Come out, come out little Laing. Come out and play with us, pet."

Shuddering, Ari tried to sound stern. "Mr Wilder, you're clearly drunk. Why don't you go get some sleep?"

"Now, let's not be such a little snob, sheep girl." he cajoled, still thumping lightly against the door, "come out and play. We know Daddy's at work."

To her horror, the brunette realized the rhythmic thumping was the architect humping his crotch against the door, and she could hear feminine giggling behind him in the hall.

"You're pathetic," she hissed. "Get the hell away from my door before I call the police."

"Police don't come to the High Rise, silly bitch! We're an independent sovereign nation! You'll find your place or we'll find it foooor you..." he sang off-key.

Arianna whirled from the door and went into the bedroom, slamming the door so she couldn't hear the knocking and his drunken slurs any more. She sat shaking on the bed with her cell clutched in her hands. Should she call Robert? The police? The afternoon light started filtering through the room as Ari sat motionless, still holding tightly to her phone.


	11. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Darling. I'm taking you out."

After an hour or so of mindlessly playing with her phone, Arianna forced herself to stand up and walk back into the kitchen. Wilder was a drunk asshole, and she was an adult. Just three more days and they'd leave this place and go... Stopping for a moment, she realized she had no idea what Robert would do at the end of the seven day trial. Would he come home with her? Stay here? Dear lord, he'd never expect HER to move to this hellhole, would he? Forcing herself to breathe deeply, Ari walked into the kitchen to start the lamb. She was a Lennox. And a Laing. She was tougher than this.

By the time Robert came home, his wife had finished her invoice work for the next day's shipment at the gallery and was setting the table. "Such a domestic scene," he smiled wryly, "Are you trying to lure me with your flawless skills as a cook? Believe me, I've enjoyed the benefits many times."

Ari laughed. "I'm glad you appreciate my cooking. How have you fed yourself these last months? You don't even like shopping for food, much less making it."

He shrugged. "The restaurant is always available, and there are other services." She paused behind his back for a moment, wondering what those "services" entailed. Dinner conversation was easy, and the brunette began to relax again as she talked about the new exhibition at the gallery. Robert looked over his wine glass at her, his blue-green eyes warm. "It sounds very different. It will be interesting to see the aboriginal art in conjunction with the modern."

"Exactly!" Ari exclaimed, "thank you! It took me forever to convince the gallery that this would work!" She beamed at Robert, feeling a swell of gratitude. Her husband would always be a man of science, not of the arts. But he understood the importance of her work and sometimes brainstormed new ideas with her. She realized his eyes were cooling in shade, turning speculative again. "So, what would you like to do tonight, Robert?"

He put his wine glass down abruptly. "I'm taking you out."

"But why won't you tell me anything?" Ari was gently poking Robert's side as he drove them downtown. She was still in the cotton sundress she'd worn all afternoon, while he was perfection in the black suit he'd worn to the hospital. Pulling into the entry of The Hotel 41, he shook his head as he helped his wife out of the car.

"Just the one bag, sir?" The valet's expression was perfectly solemn, but Arianna knew he what he thinking, looking at the two of them and seeing a wealthy man in his early 30's ushering a casually dressed 20 something into the hotel with little luggage to be seen. Feeling playful, she put on an American accent and ooed and ahhed.

"It's so cute, honey! Do you think they have cable?" Her high-pitched squeal made Robert look down, startled. When he saw her impish grin and the bellman, he suppressed a smile.

"Let's go find out, darling. Perhaps I can even find you a mini-bar." Chuckling as she squealed again, Laing checked in.

Up in the room, Arianna walked around the gorgeous cream and gold room, pulling the curtains aside to admire the street below, already packed with evening revelers. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she smoothed down her sundress and looked at her husband, who was opening the suitcase and methodically laying out clothing. He turned to her and handed her a small box and her makeup bag. "Why don't you go tidy up, darling? I'd like you to wear what's in the box." The atmosphere in the room suddenly thickened, and the playfulness was gone, turning instead to something curling low in Ari's stomach as she watched her husband's eyes slowly fade to silver blue.

"All- all right," she answered, taking the items from him and walking into the bathroom. Trying to find any clues, she opened the box first. Inside was a beautifully made blonde wig, cut sharply in a chin-level bob. Ari sat on the side of the tub, letting out a breath. Okay, not a night in with movies and room service. There was a knock on the door and Robert looked in.

"I'm going downstairs to make some calls and have a drink at the bar. I'll come get you in thirty minutes." The way he looked her up and down warned his wife not to be late.

The minute the room door shut, Arianna shot out into the room to see what her diabolical husband had left for her to wear. The dress was exquisite - a delicate silk slip underneath a creamy chiffon with spaghetti straps and ending mid-thigh with a generous flow of fabric. There was a new pair of Louboutins, cream-colored and "yes!" she cried with relief, "panties!" The lingerie set wasn't the wispy tear-aways that Robert usually favored, instead she was holding silk cups shot with palest pink lace, and again on the silk undies. Quickly taking a shower and pinning up her long tail of hair, Ari went more dramatic than usual; cats-eye liner, thicker lashes and lips in a shimmering pink lipstick. Carefully fitting on the wig, she pinned it in place and stood back to look at her work. She'd worn wigs before during ballet performances, so the new blonde felt sure it would hold. Slipping on the underwear and the silk slip, she swished her hips back and forth. The fabric swirled and ticked on her thighs, and she pulled the sheer chiffon dress up. Robert opened the door just as she was putting on the new sky high heels, and he leaned against the door to admire her. Ari's long legs were arched gracefully to slip on her shoes, and the brush of the blonde wig fell across her cheek. She was stunning. Her green eyes looked up to see her husband's blazing back at her, his hand absently rubbing the back of his neck.

"You are the most beautiful creature I could ever imagine." he said, voice already dropping deeper. Arianna blushed as he kissed her, tongue sliding out to run across her bottom one before pulling away regretfully. "We don't want to be late. One last thing, darling. Lean over the dresser."

Staring at her dark husband, she obeyed him. She felt Robert move behind her and gently pull her panties down to her knees and nudge her legs apart. Breath coming faster, she felt him slip an egg-shaped object inside her. Taking a moment to stroke her lips, he pulled up her panties and stood back to look at his wife again. "Beautiful," he growled.

Walking down the street hand in hand, Arianna was uncomfortably aware of the small object sliding inside her pussy. It made walking a little awkward, compounded by her sky high heels. "Where are we going?" she asked, sliding her arm through his.

Giving her a dark smile, he leaned in and whispered, "patience." Ari's legs suddenly went weak, thinking of all the times he'd taunted her with that word as he stroked her breasts, kissing her into a delirium before their engagement. Pulling her into his arms in the shelter of a doorway, Robert leaned in and ran the tip of his tongue up her jawline. "So beautiful," he mused, looking down. As their bodies pressed together, she jolted.

"Ah! Robert!" she felt the little egg inside her pussy start vibrating, a hard little buzz that moved against her walls and made her stomach contact.

She felt the vibration of his chuckle against her suddenly sensitive breasts. He pushed the heel of his hand gently against her pelvis. "I can feel your walls quiver." He slipped the other hand over her ass, "you tighten that adorable little ass of yours when your pussy starts getting wet." Her head dropped back as his whispering raised the hair on the back of her neck. Robert's voice was incredible - beautifully resonant, perfectly enunciated. His voice was so low and deep that his supremely shy Ari once got so aroused while he was dictating medical protocol that she climbed on top of his lap and tried to turn off the recorder. And here he was, pouring that filthy language in his perfect upper crust accent down her spine and into her nervous system. She moaned slightly, and he laughed. "Should I turn it off? Or would you like to walk down the street dripping down those beautiful legs?"

"God, Robert, I can barely stand!" she moaned, "please turn it off, please?" Giving her a brief kiss, he relented and led her down the street again. Arianna didn't recognize the small boutique hotel they entered, and the lobby was nearly empty as they headed for the elevators. Heading down, she looked at her husband again. He smiled and shook his head, so she stayed silent. There was a small desk at the entry to another row of doors, and a well-dressed concierge sat there.

"Good evening, welcome. May I have your card, please?" Robert pulled a silver card from his pocket and handed it to her, and the middle-aged woman matter of factly handed him a key. "Enjoy your evening, please let any of the staff know how we can make you comfortable." Still mystified, Ari took Robert's offered hand and was pulled through the doors, the suited woman smiling after them. She could begin to hear music pulsing through the doors around them, techno and industrial mixes. She was wondering if she could dance with that egg in her when her husband stopped and opened a door. Inside was what looked like another small, elegant hotel room.

"Let me get your coat, darling." She did as he asked, smoothing her dress back over her thighs and checking her wig in the mirror. Robert stood behind her, running his long fingers over her breasts. "I thought you'd make a luscious blonde. A little too harsh for your skin, a little sharper than your usual sweetness. Just a bite of whore. And you are, aren't you darling? Are you my elegant, sleek whore?" Eyes wide, Ari looked back at his dark smile over her shoulder. He was absolute physical perfection, her husband. His custom fitted black suit and sleek hair. Those long legs in trousers that were just tight enough to fantasize about-

"Ah!" She hissed as the egg started vibrating again.

"Are you going to be my good girl tonight?" His voice was Satan, hardening her nipples and making her hands reach back for him. "Will you obey Daddy? Will you let Daddy do things to you? Dirty things that make you squirm? Will you beg me?"

"Oh, God!" moaned Arianna, wondering how she was going to get through the night. She looked at him, biting her lip and scared for what he'd planned. Taking a breath, she whispered, "Yes, Daddy."

"That's my good girl." Reaching into his pocket, Robert pulled out a white lace mask and put it over her eyes. The lace did little to conceal her features, but it added more exotic appeal to her cat eye makeup and green eyes. "Not too tight?" He asked.

"No," she whispered. Looking at his eyes over her shoulder, Arianna quickly said "no, Daddy. It feels fine." The first time Robert ever referred to himself as "Daddy" started at the High Rise, and the word stumbled over her lips. He'd sometimes required "Sir" when they'd played his games before, but nothing this specific.

He smiled and pulled on a plain black mask of his own, holding out his hand. "Shall we go?"

"Please, Robert. Could- could you maybe turn this off? Just for a while?" He leaned in and tenderly kissed her lips with the softest of brushes.

"No."

The doors opened to the blast of techno Ari heard before, but with none of the usual eye-searing spotlights and dj booth. The lighting was subdued and more focused over specific areas. As the girl looked around, her stomach dropped. Robert brought her to a bondage club.

A sudden, sharp increase of pulsing from the egg inside her made Arianna yelp and stumble a little. She looked up at Robert helplessly. "Come along, darling." He purred and led her to a sheltered booth. Pulling her down on his lap, he idly ran his hand up one bare thigh as he switched the intensity down on the egg to the lowest setting. His wife slumped in gratitude. "Look around, baby girl. What do you recognize from your...research?

Green eyes darting around the cavernous room, she tried to formulate a response, but Ari was too terrified to let herself get a good look at anything.

"Tell me, darling, or we can walk around and try out a few." He threatened in a silky tone, still running his hand up and down her smooth thigh.

Cursing herself for ever boasting to Robert that she'd researched the Dom/sub games he'd played with her. Arianna managed to point to a group of x-shaped structures. "Um, the St. Andrew's Cross?" she said softly.

"Very good," purred her husband. "And what does one do there?"

"You ah- you can bind your sub to the cross and do things..." his hand slid under her skirt, broad knuckles skirting gently over the cream silk undies.

"Yes?" his knuckles pressed a little harder.

"Like- like spanking and flogging, mmmm...different restraints..." Her blonde head was drooping a little on to his shoulder.

"Over there? Tell Daddy what you see."

"Cages. Usually...sometimes you..." it was getting harder and harder to think, then she squeaked as he pinched the thin skin of her inner thigh. "The cages open to the mouth or- or pussy or um, behind to have ah!- sex with the person inside." They watched as a small group of people walked around three cages, running their hands over the glistening bodies inside.

The knuckles were back, running over and over her increasingly wet undies. "And the racks, my lovely little whore?"

"Oh, GOD," she thought despairingly, "how am I going to live through this?" Another pass with the knuckles and Arianna moaned again, "Sus-spension?"

Taking pity on her, Robert chuckled and pointed out other things for restraint, whipping, water, needle and blood play. On the latter, she pulled away from him, her face sheet-white. Kissing her soothingly, he whispered, "Just because it's there doesn't mean we will explore it. I would never cut your sweet skin." The kissing of the two was drawing attention, as more of her thighs start showing under Laing's restlessly moving hands. Three women drew closer, smiling and arms around each other as they watched. Ari buried her head in her husband's neck, rigid and embarrassed. "Ssshhh..." he soothed. "This club is for paired couples. They may share, but only with permission. And I will never let anyone touch you." Robert smiled seductively at their visitors, but he shook his head. Looking back to his wife, he asked "Are you going to be my good girl?" Robert lifted her off his lap and on her knees between his widely spread ones.

Her blonde head darted up in shock. "You- you don't want me to do that here? In front of-"

"Ssshhh..." he said, "no one can see anything but you on your knees in front of me, so beautiful, so submissive with your sweet blonde head in my black lap. Imagine how pretty you'll look. Will you do that, babygirl? Do this for Daddy..." Without looking, Ari knew the crowd behind them was growing, small whispers and approving noises filtering over to her.

She put her hands on the inside of his thighs. "Robert, not here. Please?"

His caressing hand stopped. "Are you saying 'red,' darling?"

"No! That's not what I mean, just not-"

His impassive eyes looked down on her, blue and cold, even though his warm hand started stroking her cheek again. "Say your word, darling, and I'll take you back to the town house and you never have to play Daddy's games again. Otherwise, be my good little girl and ask to suck me."

Her heart was pounding and Arianna couldn't think over the throb of the techno music and the whispers behind them. She couldn't let him go. She'd forced herself to be so much more brazen than she ever imagined. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "Daddy, may I please suck you?"

"What, sweetheart? I didn't hear you"

She took another inhale. "Daddy, may I please give your beautiful cock a kiss? May I please suck it?" Arianna said loudly. She couldn't tell if Robert's eyes showed surprise, or maybe respect. But while the rest of him remained neutral, the colors in his eyes started swirling again.

"You may, baby girl."

"Don't think about them, just don't." She whispered to herself, slowly undoing the pants of her huband's expensive suit and carefully pulling him out. That thick lengthy part of him was already hard, the wide head deliciously red. Opening her full pink lips, Arianna carefully placed a pouting kiss on the head, smoothing her bubble-gum pink lipstick along it.

"Such a good girl," Robert encouraged. Looking up through her lashes at her husband, Ari began to swirl her tongue around his head, down the sides, delicately tickling the veins pulsing there. As long as she kept her eyes on him, she didn't have to notice the people behind them. She was surrounded by his ridiculously long legs and she sighed as she arched her back, lengthening that long graceful ballet neck of hers. "Such a very, very good little girl." The praise this time was deeper, more the guttural growl he used at his office. Arianna took satisfaction in hearing it, knowing her husband wasn't as cool and distant as he pretended. "Your lips pouting around me, smearing that dirty-girl lipstick on my cock. Do you like getting me messy and slick? Is your delicious little cunt starting to drip, precious girl?" Realizing with a start that that damnable egg was no longer buzzing, his wife was shocked to feel she was getting wet, her pussy anxiously moistening as she licked him. Her nails ran down one pant leg now, scratching at his lean thigh under the wool. The other hand crept back into his pants, pulling out his scrotum. There was a sharp note of appreciation behind them and Arianna stiffened, suspecting that while she was mainly undercover, there were generous parts of her husband somewhat on display. Lightly taking his fingers in one hand, she placed them along the length of her throat, then carefully started swallowing him down. It had taken her months and months to learn this trick under her husband's tutelage;. the sheer size of him and the anxiety of her always at cross purposes. But as she saw Robert's eyes widen as he saw the bulge of himself press under the thin skin of her neck, it was worth every single suck. With a groan, her husband came, still staring down at the light pulses of her swallowing through the skin. Ari barely remembered to pull gently on his balls at the same time, and he gasped. "Fuck!- You- God, you fucking delicious little-" There was giggling and light applause behind them, and she flushed, giving him one more long, silky suck to clean him, them putting him back and zipping up. The weight of his warm hand was on her head, his thumb stroking her cheekbone.

Laing's chest heaved for breath as he looked down at the bent head of his wife. The sheer eroticism of her submissively kneeling before him to suck him combined with the saucy little insistence that he feel himself come down her throat- Jesus Christ, who was this woman?

"We'd love to share a drink, and perhaps your little girl and mine?" As a man's voice came from behind them, Arianna felt Robert's hand smooth down her back as she knelt, leaning into his leg.

"We're flattered," she heard him say to the other couple, "but I fear I could never share her."

Ari sagged against him in relief.

She lay in his arms for a while, taking a sip of her drink when he offered it to her mouth, loose-limbed with relief now that she'd passed her husband's test. Finally coming back into the moment a bit, Arianna stretched and looked around. "My beautiful, perfect whore." Robert's voice never sounded so pleased. She smiled, tilting her head into his neck. Her mother had always been fond of describing Arianna as "such a good girl, really. So eager to please." It crept up on her, over the three short years she'd known her husband - the pleasure she took when he was happy with her was overwhelming. "How are you, my baby girl?"

"M'okay," she murmured.

"Good. Stand up."

"Oh?" Ari said, "are we leaving?"

Robert's laugh sounded like the end of the world. "Oh, no my darling. We're just getting started."


	12. Hold, Darling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Doms are never pleased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so we've been porno-rific for a few chapters here, but it actually does contribute to character development, so...yay, porn! And yay...characters!

Robert smiled down into the eyes of his beautiful wife, his treacherous cock rising again. "I won't let any one touch you, and I will never hurt you in a way that doesn't make you come equally as hard. Do you trust me, Ari?"

Her eyes rose to his. It was the first time that night he'd spoken her name. "Yes."

Pulling her to her feet, Robert offered her another sip of her drink before walking her around the perimeter of the room, watching the play. "Don't look away," he urged gently, "do you see how attuned they are to each other?" Her head spun. How could the man so private that it took her 3 months to get him to tell her his birth date demand she suck his dick in front of an audience? And how could she have enjoyed it? Ari suddenly wished he'd spoken to her like this from the start. Instead the play escalated over the years since she invited him into her bedroom, wearing her pearls and engagement ring. It grew more intense and demanding until she was so embarrassed and afraid of what her lover wanted from her that she pushed him away, screaming like he was the monster under her bed. He finally stopped in front of the St. Andrew's Cross again. "Will you play with Daddy, sweetheart?" She groaned. He already knew the answer.

"The St. Andrew's Cross," he began conversationally, "is the perfect hold for all parts of the body. When secured to a saltire, the body has no escape from sensation from any direction." Her heart started pounding again as Robert pulled a knife from the long velvet bench holding tools and implements.

"You said no bloodplay!" she whispered, terrified.

Robert shook his head, smiling. She was paralyzed as Ari realized he was holding the small blade like a scalpel. "No, my precious kitty. But you're overdressed." He neatly slid the blade under the chiffon of her dress, and it fell to her ankles in a soft hiss. Moving forward, he placed his hands on her hips, moving them back and forth in the rhythm of music. His back was against hers, and Arianna leaned her head against his collarbone as she moved with him. Laing's next slices were neat and precise, sliding through the straps holding on her silk slip, sending it to the floor as well. She was suddenly and powerfully grateful for the creamy bra and panties, more substantial than what her husband usually bought. Pushed gently against the frame of the cross, Arianna could feel his nose travel down the line of her back, stopping to gently bite just above her ass. "I can smell you," he said, pinching her left cheek. "You're shamefully, greedily wet, you filthy, delicious cunt. You're slick." He pushed two fingers into her and pulled them out, teasingly rubbing the clear liquid between thumb and forefinger before pushing them into her mouth. His mouth was at her ear again. "But Daddy thinks you need to earn it. Rubbing your greedy little kitty all over my leg and behaving so badly." Ari felt him slide down and spread her legs, fastening them to the bottom straps, far apart. Running his hands up her legs and over her ass, Robert went back to whisper again, the serpent set on taking everything from her. "A dirty little girl like you has to earn her pleasure. But if I whip you with that lovely bra on your back, it's going to mark you in a way that I don't like. Tell Daddy you want him to make you a good girl."

She choked with fear and frustration, not being able to see his expression behind her. "Daddy, what do you want me to do? I don't know-"

"Ask Daddy for permission to take off your bra and put those sweet, pink breasts against the cross. Beg me to correct you." His hand slid into the silk undies surrounding her. "This," he said, grasping it tightly, "is mine. Mine. Beg me to take it from you. All of you."

Shaking hands rose to her strap and paused. "Daddy, please let me take my top off. I want you to mark me. Everywhere you want, Daddy. I can earn it."

His hard dick pressed into the small of her back as he breathed, "you may, baby girl." She tried pressing herself as hard as she could into the structure, hoping the broad cross beams covered her from the people filtering past them. Robert's long fingers reached around to stroke her nipples into hardness.

"Such," he breathed, "SUCH a good girl." He tied her wrists to the upper beams. Arianna jerked involuntarily when she felt a soft blindfold go over her head.

"Robert?" she asked, turning her head. He kissed the back of her neck, pressing his hips against her so she could feel the fine wool of his suit gently scratching her.

"Right here, sweetness."

Arianna breathed in, something about the mask anchored her, letting her focus the rest of her senses on what was happening to her. But when her husband started to place a gag in her mouth, her head twisted away in fear. "Please, please Daddy! I want to make you happy. I just can't- I can't breathe I can't!" "Sssshhh..." he kissed her ear.

"Would you like my fingers in your mouth instead? I was trying to help you, sweet pet. If you make a sound, I start over."

Eagerly opening her mouth, Arianna almost sobbed in relief. "Yes, please Daddy. Your fingers. That would be good." The first couple of strikes weren't bad. Robert used his hand on her ass, lowering her panties. It was so much worse, she thought, not knowing what he'd use or where her husband would slap her next. Next was right between the cheeks of her ass, and Ari yelped before she could stop herself. When Laing tried to draw his fingers from her mouth, she sucked harder. "Please, Daddy. I need them." Relenting, he started again. Bracing into the first five spanks with his broad hand, she was starting to moisten again when she felt the leather strands traverse her back. Oh, fuck. She thought despairingly, the fucking flogger. Chills ran up and down the skin of Arianna's back as she forced herself to be still, sucking mindlessly on her husband's fingers. It wasn't the pain, she could endure that. It's what that glass-handled monstrosity meant to the final screaming match of their marriage. But closing her eyes tighly, she held still. The stinging lashes from a dozen individual tips of leather stroked, burning across her shoulder blades, her spine, her lower back and then directly across her ass. Every other strike, her diabolical husband would use the broad glass handle of the flogger to stroke between her legs, rubbing hard against her clit. Tears started slipping under the silk of her blindfold and down her cheeks, but Ari refused to make a sound, until she felt Robert's fingers slip between her lower lips to test her. A small, despairing moan but he caught it. Even as she felt the slick he gathered between his fingers make it's way into her underwear, the flogger started again.

"One..." he said. Arianna cried soundlessly this time, no longer able to hold it back. He wouldn't get into rhythm, if she could just brace for the next one, she could-

_________________________________________________

 

"What is it?" she asked, as Robert drew the thin silk and leather strands across her thigh that evening in bed. "It's a flogger," he answered, a small smile twisting his lips as she tried not to look horrified. "Something for a sweet, greedy little kitty like you."

Arianna hid her flush in the crisp, white sheets as he rolled her over on to her belly. "How?" She hated how small her voice sounded, but she couldn't help it.

Moving over her slim back and gently resting just over her knees, he said "sometimes, kitties need to be taken care of. Groomed, brushed and fed. Given toys to play with." His hands ran up her scalp, placing something in her hair. "Are those-? Shit, did he just put CAT ears on my head?" she thought. Then she felt those big, warm hands moving down again to gently pull the globes of her ass apart. "Mmmh!" she whimpered, feeling his teeth bite down gently, his hot tongue starting to slide over her smooth cheeks. "Robert..." she whispered despairingly.

"Watching you dance always makes me think of how beautifully feline you are," Laing said, running his tongue along the edge of one cheek. "I confess it never occurred to me before, but seeing you leap like such a silky, sweet kitty - you were meant for ears and a tail, slinking in between my legs, letting me brush and stroke you. Jesus, once I thought of it, I've gotten hard every time I see that long, sinuous spine of yours."

Arianna was confused, increasingly frightened by the flogger thing drifting slowly up her leg. "Robert, sweetheart- I don't understand what you want from me - wait! Stop!" The last was a shriek as the flogger stopped at her anus, the broad handled end pressing close. She heard the cap of a lube bottle being opened, and she froze. No. Nononnono he couldn't think she'd let him- She must have said it out loud, because her husband paused.

"Is this a yellow, or a red, little kitty?"

"I don't understand," she wailed, "what do you want?"

Maybe Robert was too far gone with lust by then to recognize the signs any responsible Dom would see. But he'd been thinking of seeing his lovely Ari slinking across his floor as his kitten for too long to pay attention. "We slide this here," he gently coated the glass base of the flogger, "and put your little tail in here-" As she felt him press the terrifying, alien thing to the opening of her anus, Arianna screamed. With rage, humiliation, frustration that she could never give him enough.

"Get AWAY from me!" she shrieked. "God DAMNIT, Robert what is WRONG with you! A fucking cat? You want to make me an- an- an- animal with a tail in my butt? You fucking monster! I can't stand this any more!" She felt his deathly stillness before she saw his face. His blue eyes watched her turn and scramble up against the headboard, drawing her knees up to her chest and sobbing.

He reached out a hand, trying to soothe her. "Ari, stop. It's okay to say 'yellow' or 'red." Shhh."

Arianna seized the long tails of her hair herself and pulled. "Get the fuck away from me, you FUCKING MONSTER!" And drawing back, staring at her with those flat, reptilian eyes, her husband did just that.

____________________________________________________________

 

The tears sliding under the blindfold started dripping onto her bare breasts, trembling drops peaking on her nipples as they shook with Robert's blows. He'd been harder with her, but the feeling behind the flogger made her cringe each time it touched her. Ari let out another yelp as a thin leather strand struck between her legs. Robert leaned in again, taking the fingers from her mouth and sliding them on to her clit. "Oh, pet. You'd been doing so well. We have to start again."

Ari gulped out a sob, "Robert-" Her back and legs stung, her hips moving, trying to ease the burning of the marks.

"What is your safe word?" He whispered, his Satan-smooth voice cutting through the din of the music, the moaning and giggles.

"Mmmm..." if she could just concentrate, if those people would shut up and she could hear herself think-

"What is your safe word?" The flogger's strands tickled round her legs as Robert gently twisted her clit. "Tell me, sweetheart."

His shaking wife sniffed. "It's red. Red."

"Do you want to use it?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" His breath was in her ear again, fingers still tugging on her painfully sensitive clit.

"Yes, Daddy." His hips bucked against her, Laing's cock rubbing her sore bottom.

"SUCH a good girl..." he breathed. And it started again.

Stubbornly keeping her lips around his fingers again, Arianna flinched as he went right to the flogger. "No hands then," she thought sadly. Pressing herself against the supporting bar in a blind desire to escape the lash, she realized her clit was rubbing against the surface and the warmth was spreading through her pelvis. His long, clever fingers would slither between her legs every so often, gently rubbing her too. The music around them started to fade as Ari's eyes closed, still jerking when the flogger landed.

"My sweet, good girl." He bit her ear. "You need to hold now. No coming for Daddy until I tell you." Then she felt that damnable egg start up again inside her. Her shoulder would twist from the sting of the lash, her hips the other way, trying to escape the movement of the toy inside her. Ari realized that she was ready to come. Not just ready, but desperate. "Hold," he warned, rubbing her clit. Every muscle in her legs drew taut as she tried to obey him.

"Hold, darling."

The tears started dripping under her blindfold again, Ari so desperate to finish that her fingernails cut into her palm. "Hold! Eighteen...nineteen..." The toy inside her sped up, painfully squeezed by her aching pelvis. "Twenty." She gasped out in gratitude as Robert leaned in. "You may come."

The red burn of her clenched muscles exploded into a white shower of sparks, Ari's head dropping back as her lips opened and closed soundlessly. The hard roll of pleasure blazing through her pussy radiated out through her back and legs, tiny nerve ends twitching madly in her feet and fingers. She'd never felt anything so painfully intense, so uncomfortable and oh god wildly good but sore but hot but she couldn't stand the thought it would ever end. The warm hands of her husband held her hips, gently stroking her as the white sparks turned back and started centering back to her pussy again. The only thing Arianna could manage was a weak exhale of breath. She could feel herself dripping down her shaking legs, on to Robert's hand that was gently covering her spasming pelvis.

"Such a good girl," she moaned at his voice, "Daddy is so proud of you."

Arianna didn't remember Robert taking off her blindfold, then quickly untying her feet and putting her bra on, wide shoulders tilting to shield her from the others playing on the crosses. Her knees buckled, and he held her steady as he untied her hands. Picking her up, Laing carried his half-conscious wife out of the club. The relief she felt when he put her on the bed in that quiet room where they'd left their coats was immeasurable. She dimly felt her husband wiping a cool cloth over her shaking limbs, massaging her wrists and ankles, stroking an aloe lotion over her back. "How do you feel, my sweet Ari?"

She couldn't seem to open her eyes, but her hand reached out, searching for him. "M' okay," she slurred. "Mmmm, it won't stop."

"What, baby girl?"

"I'm sore here," she groaned, gingerly touching her pussy, "but it won't stop tingling."

Robert's cool lips touched hers, then gently slid down her neck. "Do you want me to take it away, sweetheart?"

"Yes, please." Her exhausted hips jerked again as another sharp tingle slid through her. Suddenly, those cool lips were on her painfully swollen lower ones. "Oh..." she moaned slowly. She heard the faint jingle of his glass and realized he'd put an ice chip in his mouth to cool her uncomfortably heated tissues. That cool tongue lapped carefully over all of her pussy, the gentle chill soothing the burning sparks that wouldn't stop sending the tiny orgasms frissoning through her. One more long chilly pass with his mouth and Ari moaned weakly, "Oh! I thought you were going to stop it?" she whined. Robert still forced her to come again, but this one seemed to stop the rest. Pulling a throw over his trembling wife, he went next to her and pulled her head on to his chest.

"Mmm...Robert?"

"Yes, pet?" He looked down to see her thick lashes resting on her tears-streaked cheeks.

"I used to like it a lot, some of the things, anyway. I thought it meant I was dirty."

Robert shook his head. What else would a nice girl who wanted to stay virgin 'till marriage think? He'd been a Dom since discovering it at 17, and he'd never fucked anyone who wasn't already experienced. "I know, sweetness. And you are dirty. So incredibly, uncommonly, deliciously-" he punctuated each word of praise with a kiss on her lips, feeling her giggle. "-astonishingly, beautifully dirty, my little girl." Laing stroked her hair and waited until Ari started stirring again after an hour or so. "Do you feel like you can walk up to the street?" He asked, helping her sit up, "I'll get a car to take us back to 41."

He knelt to help her put the Louboutins back on as Ari looked around and giggled. "I don't have anything to wear, Robert, after you went all scalpel-ish on me."

Pulling her coat out, Laing shook his head. "As tempting as it would be to lead you out in nothing but those undies, I'll wrap you up." Walking her out, he left the key with the bizarrely normal-looking concierge before leaving. The rest of the early morning hours were a blur as Robert bathed her in the tub, coming her hair dry and rubbing more lotion on her marks.

Falling asleep, Ari could hear the voice of Sister McCullough, her primary school teacher. "What KIND of girl lets a man touch her in filthy, inappropriate ways!"

"I guess I do, Sister," she mumbled as she finally slipped under. Robert looked down at her, eyebrow raised quizzically.


	13. If Life Was A Disney Cartoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Endorphins make everything better.

If Arianna lived in a Disney animated feature, the next day at the gallery would be filled with singing bluebirds and winsome forest creatures doing all of her paperwork. As it was, she wandered dreamily through the boxes arriving at the gallery. Humming tunelessly, she went through the shipment carefully, unwrapping the pottery. But she couldn't seem to stop the slow and stupid smile that kept creeping across her face.

"So..." said James, "it's been going well then?"

The two assistants assigned to help them unpack the boxes started giggling. "Real mature, guys!" Arianna said with embarrassment. "And yes," she hissed at James, "it's going fine!"

Pari kept a straight face as she said, "Oh, look. It's £100 worth of roses. I wonder who they're for?" The brunette curator snatched the card from her as they giggled again, even James. Ari smiled at the note in her husband's firm handwriting and held the card to her chest, humming off-key.

"Please, Arianna, we love you, but please stop singing!" Moaned James.

A flush hit her cheeks when she realized they were all staring at her. "What? I can sing!" She said defensively.

"No you can't." They replied in unison.

Ari's pretty mouth dropped. "I can too sing!"

"No dear," her boss said. "Your singing voice is a cross between a dump truck and an aroused goose." All three gallery employees nodded at her.

"Since when!" She cried, stung.

Pari put an arm around her shoulders. "Have you ever noticed we never invite you to go to the karaoke bar with us?"

"Um, I guess I never heard you talking about it," admitted Arianna.

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," agreed James.

The morning passed with a lot of laughter as Ari tried to describe the horrors of the High-Rise in a funny way. "He did NOT say the lower classes were like sheep nosing the fence line!" Howled James.

"Ugh," she shuddered, "it got creepier and creepier."

Waiting until Pari and Winston went to lunch, James sat a coffee on Ari's desk. "Thought you might need this. Doesn't look like you got much sleep last night." She nearly spat the first mouthful out as she turned red again.

"Shuddup," she mumbled into the cup.

"How is it going. Really." He pressed, sitting on the edge of her desk. He noticed with some amusement that his curator hovered just over her chair, rather than sitting on it.

"Much better than I thought," Ari admitted. "The connection between us was so much stronger than I expected, right from the start." She moved a pile of packing peanuts over to make room for her coffee.

"Best bits?" James prodded. She smiled, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"Robert..." she sighed like a teenager.

"Worst?" Her boss continued. Ari stood with a frown, rubbing a sore spot on her wrist absently.

"This place, James. The High Rise?" He nodded, drinking his own coffee. "It's...a cesspool. There's something horribly wrong there, aside from the completely fucked-up class system thing. People stare at you, whispering and giggling. Little boys make sexual gestures with their tongues--"

"The ah-ah thing?" James demonstrated helpfully with his own fleshy one.

Ari shuddered and smacked him on the arm. "Ugh! PSTD, James!" She sobered again as she fiddled with one of the boxes. "It's... sick. The building is diseased and the people are ill. It feels like a creeping rot. The tenants - I don't get it. Most of the parking lots seem full during the day, like no one goes to work any more?"

He shrugged and smiled for her benefit. "So, you get your man to leave the shithole and move back home with you, eh?"

She was embarrassed to feel her chin shake. "Um," Ari cleared her throat, trying not to cry. "What if he won't?"

"Darling," he soothed, "you're making too much of this. Maybe you resent the High Rise and the tenants because you feel they've kept Robert away from you. He'll come home."

Ari shook her head, the joyful giddy feeling of the morning gone. "I can't explain it, Jamie. But I know I'm right. It's like all the dark in him bled into the building and found a home. It's like he needs to be there."

 

After a jump from her boss for the Range Rover's dead battery, Arianna drove back to the looming concrete albatross that housed the man she loved. Staring at it resentfully, she looked to the right of the building, seeing the skeletons of the next two buildings--identical to the first--underway. Sighing, she grabbed her bag and reluctantly walked back in. Standing by the door of the market were the three boys she'd met the first day. "Good afternoon, gents!" she smiled happily, "how are your bad selves this day?" None of the three would speak, staring at her with the same flat, blankness she'd seen from the others. "Shall I spot you some candy?" She smiled, "I appreciate you being so nice to me that first day."

Green eyes glancing between the blank faces of the children staring at her, Ari felt a chill run up her backside. "All right, then..." Turning to punch the elevator door, she smiled one last time before the doors closed on the boys. Halfway up the building, she was startled out of her thoughts as the elevator lights flickered and the smooth ride of the lift jolted. Gasping, she fell against the back of the lift and looked up, watching those searing chrome lights flicker. "Please don't fail," she whispered, "please." Arianna fought a case of claustrophobia since childhood when she'd been locked in a wardrobe by mistake. With a pained groan of the cables, the power returned and the elevator deposited the shaken girl on Robert's floor. Walking briskly down the hall, she kept the key fixed firmly between her first and second finger.

Almost at Robert's door, Ari dared breathe a sigh of relief- "Oh, look. It's Dr. Laing's darling wife." The voice was as shrill as an 13 year old bully, ready to slap you hard at your locker, her friends looking out for the teacher while she cornered you. Arianna saw the five flight attendants just outside their door, casually angling out into the hallway.

"We've been so disappointed," said another, "waiting for you to drop your pathetic little poor 'Oh, he left me!' act and just go. The Fuck. AWAY."

Green eyes darting around the girls, Arianna saw the girl she'd met at Royal's brunch--Keely, was it?--huddled in the back of the estrogen wolf pack. "Look," said another in a soothing tone that didn't reach her eyes, "we're all friends here. Why don't you come over for some tea and we'll tell you about Robert and all the fun we've been having?"

Watching Keely subtly shake her head, eyes wide, Arianna faked a smile. "I'd love to, but we have some people coming up on the lift right now. I've got to get the door open and get everything ready. But soon, I'm sure." She plunged the key into the door and threw herself inside, hearing the faint, hateful laughter of the girls outside.

Heart pounding as she leaned gratefully on the safe side of the door, Arianna shuddered. Six months. Her Robert had been here for six months with these people. And their sick, fucking reptile brains.


	14. Meow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I kept listening to "Macavity the Mystery Cat" and laughing my ass off writing this chapter. Broadway enthusiasts will understand why.

The urbane and emotionless Dr. Laing fought a rising sense of anxiety as he sped his Jaguar to the High Rise that afternoon. He was later than he liked, forced to pause and add consult on another case as he was ripping off the gloves from his own surgery and trying to head out the door of the hospital. He and Arianna parted ways in the parking lot that morning after he'd made sure her utterly useless Range Rover would start after 4 days of sitting idle. Leaning her against the car door hard, Robert kissed her thoroughly. "Are you sure you're well enough to go in?" He asked, his voice huskier than he'd planned.

Ari closed her eyes blissfully, running her hands up to cup his strong neck and the short hair on the back of his head. "Perfectly."

Regretfully biting her full lower lip again, her handsome husband stepped back. "All right. I should be home by two. Would you rather come to the hospital and we'll drive back together?"

She shook her head, grinning. She had plans. "No, I'll be here by one. I'll put together something for you to nibble on."

Once again, Laing looked at her with a sense of unreality. 'Who WAS this utterly irresistible, shameless girl?' Ari kissed him again and threw her purse and laptop on the car seat.

"I'll be fine, Robert. I'll see you at two?" She groaned as his suit-clad hips pressed against her again.

Absently looking over the green space around the building, Robert wrinkled his brow. There were piles of shattered glass everywhere, spiraling out in patterns, piled in heaps with shredded labels, shards dug into tires, swing sets and benches. Vaguely remembering his Ari's story about the bottle-throwing neighbors, he grouched "And where the hell are the grounds-keepers?" As he walked into the lobby. Opening the door to the apartment, he called out. "Ari? Got caught up in a consult, darling. How was the gallery today?" Absently sorting through the mail, Robert wandered through the main room. "Darling?" The apartment was still and warm, the weak winter sunshine coming through the huge windows. His brow furrowed as he loosened his tie. "Ari, where are you?"

Walking into the bedroom, his blue gaze was drawn to the couch sitting in front of the window. Silhouetted against the light drifting in was a long form lounging against the top of the sofa. Dropping the mail on the dresser, Laing moved closer. "Ari?"

The sinuous body stretched elaborately, then leaned on one arm as the face peered underneath it. Robert's eyes drifted down from the pert ears, the painted whiskers and pink nose and lips. Soft patches of silver and grey ran along the lean muscled lines of her body, lightly speckled with black. "Oh, my GOOD, little girl..." he managed to groan. Fingers in soft grey mittens twitched, and she arched her back slowly, then creeping face first down the couch and on to the floor. Leaning abruptly against the dresser as the strength left his long legs, Laing looked over her blazing, grey eyeliner-rimmed eyes as she crawled over to him. As she wound through his spread legs, his dick shot to instant attention in his suit as he looked at the sleek grey tail swishing from her ass.

'I'm dead.' he thought briefly. 'No, I can't be dead. I'd be in hell, and this is fucking heaven.' "Why, darling," he croaked, the urbane Dr. Laing forced to clear his throat. "What a lovely surprise."

She purred approvingly, rubbing her cheek against his thigh, suspiciously close to the uncomfortable tent at his zipper. "Well, look at you, my precious pet-" he drew in another breath as her green eyes looked up at him speculatively, as her whiskered cheek rubbed directly on his painful cock. "You need a name, don't you, baby?" She was completely naked, save for ears, tail and mittens. "Pandora." Her husband said. "You're definitely trouble." Trying to remember her purr, Ari lightly bit his ass and crawled over to the bed, leaping up lightly onto the white down comforter. She winked one green eye at him, idly pawing at the puffy bed. Mindlessly pulling off his jacket and tie and dropping them on the floor with his shoes, Robert strolled over to his Pandora. Yanking his Rolex and his cuff links off, he tried to unbutton his shirt with suddenly nerveless fingers. Ari pounced on a shiny cuff link that dropped on the bed. Batting it back and forth between her paws, she tried not to smile. She'd been so embarrassed getting ready and terrified that after all his fantasies, her dark lover would laugh at her. Judging from the uncomfortable erection straining from his tailored suit trousers, that wasn't going to be a problem. "Now, Pandora-" he cleared his throat again, trying to sound stern. "Give Daddy his cuff link."

Those pale, Nile-green eyes looked up to his slowly, then she shrugged insolently, returning to batting the shiny silver jewelry again. A throaty purr started from her long throat as he stalked over to her spot. "Bad kitty," he said, deeply pleased. "Bad Pandora!" She arched a long black brow at him, then batted the cuff link sharply with her paw off the bed, leaping after it. With three steps, Robert had his shirt off and his pet cornered by the bathroom door.

"SUCH a bad girl," he said fondly, stroking his swollen dick. Ari stilled for a moment, leaning on to her elbows and arching that supple spine he loved. Robert heard her give another low, pleasured purr. Her pale kitten green eyes closed as her husband ran one huge, warm palm down her spine, gently tracing over the sleek globes of her ass, just touching the flogging strands of silk and leather from her tail. Drawing in a deep breath, he waited for her to relax again, arching her back in appreciation as he stroked her softly. "What a beautiful, perfect little kitty you are," he groaned, trying to sound reassuring and not at all like he wanted to throw her on her back and shove his painfully engorged cock into her instantly. Diabolically, his Pandora arched higher to rub her cheek and silky hair against his cock, purring appreciatively. He felt the purrs vibrate through the rigid tissue of his penis, blue eyes closing briefly. Kneeling down abruptly, he laid his hand under her chin, lifting it to his face. "Give Daddy a nice kiss, Pandora."

The cold and  rigid Dr. Laing was seconds away from embarrassing himself in his Savile Row suit trousers when Pandora's sweet, pink tongue darted out to lick his lips, then the tip of his nose before drawing back warily. "Come here, baby," he said hoarsely as he started forward. Using those strong, long legs from years of ballet, his new pet leaped easily out of his reach, resuming her innocent purr. "Now then, Pandora," he warned, "come back to Daddy right now, and I'll give you a nice cuddle instead of a spanking."

Arianna would have immediately returned when Robert used that tone. Pandora however, meowed tauntingly and darted for the living room. More space there to move and torture the man longer. Closing his wildly swirling blue-green eyes, The Doctor Robert Laing thanked whatever Gods might be listening, then tore after his new pet. The chase was short. No matter how strong Arianna was, on all fours would never trump the ridiculously lengthy legs of her spouse. But it was worth the chase when he pounced on her, wedging all those long limbs to cage her in. "What am I to do with such a bad little girl, eh?" His fingers gently stroked her neck and soft cheek. She rubbed her silky hair fondly against his shoulder, shrugging. "Mmmm...Pandora." He crooned, "such a treasure." Carefully, gently stroking her long back, the rough pads of his fingers stroking over the patches of paint, Robert was stunned that she would choose this form of all things to give to him. Still boxing her in as she moved restlessly, trying to slink loose, his left hand stroked through her thick mane of hair as the right slid up her spine to her ass. "Daddy loves his precious kitty. So soft..." She remembered to purr as his hand gently ran through her tangled hair. "So sweet and perfect. What a good Pandora..." Ari's ability to play her role was starting to fade as his hands moved over her. As long fingers reached her tail, Robert paused, keeping his hand at the base buried into her ass. "Is my silky little pet still purring?" He asked carefully. He looked down into her eyes, lifting her paint-whiskered cheek. Her heart was pounding madly, he could see the slight pulse throbbing in her neck. Those pale green eyes closed briefly, then opened to look at him directly. The long and aroused purr that left her was part Ari and part Pandora.

Oh, God, baby-" he groaned, reaching to the base of the tail and gently stroking it in and out of her ass, an inch at a time. His pet's breath caught briefly, then went back to a slightly rusty purr. Carefully angling her jaw, Ari/Pandora's mouth landed on his cock, that evil little pink tongue darting again to lick it carefully, like it was covered with melted butter. Robert's eyes rolled back as he tried to keep a slow and measured hand moving on the base of his pet's tail as she licked him with long and appreciative strokes. Her sharp little teeth were coming into play, just barely, barely scratching along the thick base of his painfully stiff organ.

'Why was this so much better?' She wondered dreamily, carefully tickling the tip of her agile tongue under his balls. Being her idea this time was so powerful, and the expression on his face was nothing she'd seen -ever- from her collected and cold husband. The arousal of making Robert's fantasy a reality- and being in control was making her shake. Even the intrusive thing in her ass was sexy when he moved it back and forth in the same movement as her tongue on his cock. "Will you let me admire you, Pandora?" He asked in a guttural rasp. "Let Daddy pet his baby kitty."

Ari rolled over onto her back, arching that sleek, ballet-sculpted spine to her husband, who groaned. He could see the tail perched inside her little puckered ass, and the glistening wetness helplessly leaking from her clutching pussy. "You've made a mess, Pandora." He sounded stern. "You'll have to let Daddy clean that up." Suddenly, his warm tongue was on her, and she gave an un-kitten like gasp. Feeling the vibrations of his chuckle on her, Ari/Pandora/whatever he ever wanted her to be gave a long and blissful sigh. Robert kept trying to remember to loosen his grip on his pet's lean ass, knowing how easily she bruised. It didn't help, he clutched her harder, bringing her back over and over on to his tongue. He was surprised when his luscious kitten suddenly arched painfully and a low moan broke from her throat. "Come for Daddy," he hissed, and she did. Helplessly. Slowly petting her arms and legs, Laing waited for her to recover. "Daddy's going to fuck you now, Pandora. Will you lay on that sleek tummy and let Daddy in your pussy?"

She wasn't even thinking of the toy still wedged in her ass when he watched her nod. Robert's calloused hands slid over her hips as he angled his throbbing dick behind her. He stroked the silk and leather strands away from her weeping and uncomfortable cunt. Leaning down low to hiss just at her sensitive ear, Robert whispered, "Daddy's going to put his cock in you. You're going to be stuffed full, with me and your lovely tail. Is my Pandora still well?" She couldn't purr. She couldn't even moan, but Ari gathered the scraps of her intellect together to nod softly against his cheek. "You can speak, precious. You can tell me yellow or red and I'll do anything you want. Anything."

Tears suddenly gathering in those pale green eyes, his pet reached back in an impossibly long arch to gently kiss and lick his lips. Robert painfully cleared his throat, cock just at the entrance of her clutching warmth, and his fingers on the flogger inside her ass. Those beautiful lips at her ear moved again. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, my darling. Just shake your head "no" and I'll stop." Ari/Pandora was way beyond reason and helplessly, insistently pushed her ass against Laing's reddened cock. Her breath caught as he started sliding that beautiful, thick thing inside her, inch by inch. Just as the head pushed into her, Ari gasped with pain. It was the point on her sensitive self where everything met to invade her, but a few more slow thrusts moved the pressure past the entry point and she felt it, that thick, lovely, stuffed feeling where she couldn't even move. After gently moving her hips back and forth, Robert seated deep in his wife, moving the pressure so it didn't hurt so much. "I'll take care of you, my precious kitten," he promised as he moved in, then almost out of her. Her rebellious hips started moving without her, helping her husband push faster, every stroke gathering more wetness, more slick to make him move faster against her.

"Aaaaaah..." she barely exhaled, not sure if she was moaning or crying. Robert placed kisses down her spine, stroking her inside and out as his narrow hips banged against the glass base inside her ass. Well before he wanted to speed up, he found his pet pushing herself back in a needy way. Finding her delicate clit already out from it's flesh hood and desperate for him, Laing stroked it in the same rhythm as his cock inside her, and the cylinder inside her ass. Both were tensed and anxious, desperate to not come because it all felt so fucking good. They moved on and on together as the afternoon light started to turn dim and their moans were painful.

Robert gathered his senses and whispered into her neck, "It's time, baby girl. Give me what belongs to me. It's mine, and I want it. Come against Daddy, now."

Shocked from her daze by the greediness of his words, Ari/Pandora moaned and purred one more time before letting out a shriek that registered through the floor boards. He fell right after her, shaken by the sheer need of her moans. Shoving into her pussy as he pushed the tail one last time, Robert gasped "F-fuck Ari! Oh, God, I fucking love you! Don't leave me. Not ever again. Don't let me be a bastard- I'll worship you till the end of forever! F-FUCK!"

Moaning together, they collapsed on the couch, Robert tightly holding his shaking wife through her orgasms. "I love you," he whispered, "I never stopped. I'm so sorry I frightened you, I'm the last person in this world you should have to be afraid of. I'm sorry."

Blindly kissing his fingertips as the only thing in reach from her husband, Arianna moaned back. "I never stopped loving you either. I'm so sorry for acting like what we did was wrong because I didn't understand it. Love you, love..."

The sun was already down over the horizon when Robert managed to stretch his cramped limbs and release his wife from his grasp. Filling the tub with hot water and suds, he lifted her limp form into the water, sliding in behind her. Cupping her breasts and lovingly washing every inch of her, he finally felt Ari come back to herself and look around a little. "Are you all right, my sweet Ari?"

Clumsily clearing her throat, she finally answered. "So much better than all right."

They soaked in silence until the water cooled and it was time to get out. Suddenly, Robert frowned thoughtfully. "How did you DO that?"

Ari yawned, "What, Pandora?"

"Mmmm, hmmm."

"I used stage smudge-proof body paint so I could roll around, and I watched a lot of cat videos on YouTube."

His mouth twisted in amusement. "But, you were flawless. Pandora is impeccable."

Looking down in confusion, Robert watched as his wife broke out into helpless laughter. "That's because I played Bombalurina in the student production of 'Cats' when I was at Cambridge."

He couldn't help it, joining his wife in laughter until they were recovered enough to get out of the tub.


	15. Keep Breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Background on why Robert's such a control freak and a general tight-ass. Also, prostitutes, unreliable lifts and panic attacks.

Robert gave Ari his shirt off the floor to wear, cheerfully blocking her from her underwear drawer as he pulled on a pair of sweats. The loose black pants fell low on his narrow hips and she sighed with appreciation, admiring the sculpted v leading to the part of her husband she liked enormously. "Eyes up here, wife." He said, mocking her. She blushed and headed into the kitchen, smiling. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, it's just- you used to call me 'wife' before, and I always loved it." Ari's eyes were shining, "It's so nice to hear it again." Handing her a glass of wine, Robert settled in a chair with a medical journal and a glass of Jameson. He gave up on trying to read when Ari started reaching up on tip toe to gather dishes and some food items from his cabinets.

"Gigantic tall men and their inconvenient placements..." she grumbled, unaware that the man in question was enjoying watching his shirt ride up and down, giving him tantalizing peeks at her bottom.

They ate at the infamous dining room table, Ari starting to giggle. "I am never going to be able to eat here with a straight face, you know."

Taking a drink of his wine, Robert countered, "I have no problem eating you here with a straight face." Her laugh was muffled by a crash on their balcony, shards of something hitting the thick glass like bullets. "What the hell?" he hissed, yanking open the balcony doors.

With the door open, they could hear the screaming from a couple of floors directly above them. It sounding like one woman was crying, another laughing manically and at least four males shouting insults and sexual slurs. Robert pushed Ari back as another volley of items fell onto their balcony-clothing this time. Irritably picking up a woman's bra, Laing shouted back up. "Twenty-seven D? What are you idiots doing? Shut your bloody door and stop pelting us with your shit!"

This time a huge makeup case came down, knocking the edge of their railing, spraying lipsticks and shattered globs of foundation as it continued down. Ari ducked again, heart pounding. A voice finally trailed down. "Laing, come up and join us!" 'Dr. Pangbourne?' she mouthed to Robert.

They could still hear the women, somewhat subdued now, and the grunts coming from the male voices. "Come up, Laing! We're switching Sally out and Marina in here in Twenty-seven D. The party's magnificent!" The kindly man she'd met at Royal's brunch sounded completely different. Not just drunk, but low and ugly, the tone of telling a dirty joke with a racist end. "You can bring the Lovely Mrs. Laing..." The other men's voices started roaring in a bull chorus.

"Yes! Bring her up! Let's have a welcome to the High Rise gangbang! Bring her, Laing!"

Ari put her hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach. Taking her by the upper arm, Robert moved her rapidly back into the living room, shutting and locking the huge glass door. He ran his hands over her face and chest, checking for injuries. "Are you all right?" She nodded.

"What is GOING on?" she said. "Who are those freaks? Are they- are they RAPING those women? Should we call the police? We should call the police, Robert!"

He tried to soothingly run his hands up and down her arms. "Shhhh, no sweetheart. Just some idiot drunken twats. They'll be down to apologize tomorrow, I'm sure." She pulled away from her husband anxiously.

"Robert, those men- they're hurting those women. We have to call someone!"

Shaking his head, he pulled her on to the couch. "Those women are whores."

"I beg your pardon?" Arianna's voice came out higher than she liked. "They're what? How would you know that?"

"Darling, there's a group of escorts who, uh, sort of work the building. Some of the men move them into their place for a short time before the girls move on to someone else."

"That's disgusting." She got up and started pacing again. "The fully-contained High Rise comes with it's own stocked whorehouse? What the HELL, Robert?"

He arched a brow at his wife, anxiously striding in front of him. "I don't see how this makes the High Rise a den of inequity, darling. You can't control what people do in their own homes."

"Sweetheart, that's the point! It's not just in the privacy of their own flat- all these weird fights, the broken glass and the yelling and screaming. This place is sick!"

'Shit.' thought Ari as Robert looked at her with a cooling expression.

"A little judgmental, you think? I seem to remember an impassioned speech at Royal's table about acceptance and each to his own destiny."

"This stuff, this is so far out of the scope of what we discussed that day-"

Robert irritably shook his head. "Because you want it to be. Darling, you need to get off your high horse." He passed her, drawing the long curtains over the balcony door, hiding the rubble. Ari brushed her long curls back over her shoulders, sighing. How had this perfect afternoon turned so ugly? 'Fucking High Rise,' she thought bitterly.

By bedtime, they were back in sync, Robert reading on the couch while her long legs sprawled over his as she worked on her laptop. Without comment, he'd turned on the sound system after their disagreement, selecting Johnny Clegg and Savuka. Ari hummed along as she went through some diagrams for the new exhibit. Wincing as she hit a particularly discordant note, Laing asked, "You said it was Bombalurina you played in that student production of 'Cats,' correct?"

She looked up and smiled. "Yes. Such fun."

His brow furrowed, "But...'Cats' is a musical," he asked carefully, "didn't you have a great deal of vocal solos?"

Placidly shaking her head, green eyes still intent on her diagram, Arianna replied "Oh, no. I didn't have a singing role. I did a lot of dancing and a few lines."

Robert's lips quirked, trying desperately to look serious. "Perhaps I'm mistaken, but when I saw the play in New York City, Bombalurina sang." Ari's guileless green eyes looked up at him.

"Oh, well...there was a girl from the opera department who would sing when my character was onstage. They must have been trying to make room for a larger cast so that we could all get course credit."

Picturing his lovely wife earnestly yowling at the audience, Laing smiled, kissing her plump lips. "That must be it."

Shutting her laptop with a sigh, Arianna looked over at her handsome husband, head leaning on one fist as his eyes moved rapidly over the article he was reading. A smile curved over his lips. "You're staring, wife. Terribly rude."

"Perhaps you should teach me some manners," she drawled in a ridiculously 'come-hither' voice. Robert stilled, blue eyes examining her. With the speed of a snake strike, he threw the medical journal with one hand and grabbed her with the other. Arianna shrieked delightedly as he threw her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom. Making love that night was wonderfully slow and languid. Robert went back on his knees, still inside her and stroking slowly. He gathered his wife up on his lap, her spread knees bracketing his. Gradually sliding down his length, Ari's head dropped bonelessly onto his shoulder with a sigh. Moving her hips up and down on his, Laing was torn between watching the glistening length of him, sliding in and out of her, or closing his blue-green eyes to keep from coming. She wrapped her arms around his neck, overcome with the sheer pleasure of the moment.

"I love you, husband," she whispered.

Suddenly, his dark head dropped to her collarbone. "And I you, wife." Arianna held suspended in the joy of the moment, like an amber drop containing the DNA of a world from millions of years ago.

But by 3am, Laing was back in the chair across the bedroom, staring at his wife sleeping in his bed.

Saturday:

It was the paint that tipped Ari that things were off again the next morning. Sniffing as she sat up in bed, she looked over to see a larger, sloppier square of yellow-ish paint next to the blue one. Resting below was the yellow paint can, dripping brush still on top. Walking over and cocking her head, she could remember Lizanne drunkenly admonishing her "Don't paint in anger, Ari! No!" She suddenly realized that at some point, Robert would see the paint jobs she'd committed upon their town house. Shifting uneasily, she concluded that he may not understand the balance between enthusiasm and skill, Ari hoped maybe she could counter with this inexplicable trend. "Sweetheart, are you up?" She walked into the kitchen, trailing the scent of coffee. The gigantic space was empty, but Robert had already laid out a mug and sugar for her. Taking a sip, she wandered to the windows, looking out on the morning. The mess on the balcony was already cleared, the bent railing the only clue anything ever happened. The brunette strolled over to the heavy armoire again, standing in front of it as she sipped her coffee. Impulsively, Ari reached out to pull on one of the doors, but it was still locked. "I must be mad," she mused. "What am I expecting, Blackbeard's wives hanging by their hair?"

"What did you say, darling?" Ari turned to look at her husband, still in his sweaty running gear, but carrying a paint can.

"Oh, just looking at that armoire. Good morning," she kissed Laing blissfully. "What's with the sudden home decor trend?" Arianna nodded to his paint can.

"Just personalizing the space," he replied blandly, sending a bolt of fear through her heart.

"Oh?" she asked. 'Ask him!' she scolded herself, 'Ask him to come home! Why is Robert painting unless he plans to stay here!' But Ari's courage failed her and she just nodded. Twice as they moved around each other that morning, the lights flickered on and off. She looked up, her brow furrowed. "Do you think we're having a brown-out?" she asked.

His blue eyes looked up from his work and blinked once. Slowly. "No," he rasped, going back to his laptop. By lunchtime, Arianna was actually grateful that Robert had to run down to his Jaguar to get some papers. "Stay here, please," he asked, giving her a kiss.

"Of course," she answered, with absolutely no irony. When her husband hadn't returned after 30 minutes, the brunette started pacing anxiously. "Ten minutes to get out of this concrete labyrinth," she estimated, "ten minutes to get to the car and find his papers. Ten minutes to come back up." After 45 minutes, Ari could feel her heart squeezing painfully in her chest. "He's met a neighbor, and they're talking." Sixty minutes. "Maybe he's getting something at the market on 26th." At ninety minutes, she couldn't stand it any longer and slipped on her flowered Toms, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. The realization that she was actually terrified to leave the locked sanctuary of Robert's flat made Ari angrily grab her keys and march for the door. Peeking out the spyhole to make sure the hall was empty, she slipped out the door and locked it behind her, speed-walking for the lift.

Punching the key, she waited for a minute before the boy who'd wagged his tongue at her sauntered by. "Why are you trying THAT lift?"

Eyes narrowed threateningly, Ari snapped "because it's the closest?" The boy gave her a knowing, hateful grin. "That's one's been claimed by 24. You'd best move over to the east one or the stairs." His tongue started to peek between those vile lips again. "You want I take you there? Make sure you don't get lost?"

She shook her head, "You get back to your mother, I'm meeting my husband downstairs." Moving rapidly in the direction of the east lift, Ari could feel him grinning behind her. 'Claimed by 24?' she thought, 'what on earth would that mean?' Gratefully seeing the silver doors of the other one, she started trotting. Not a run. That would mean she was scared. Just moving quickly. But as the doors shut and she tapped the Lobby button, the lift moved upward. "No! Nonnonono..." she moaned hitting the Lobby button over and over, as if it would convince the silver box to change it's mind. The doors opened on 26th, and Ari pushed the button hopefully. The doors stayed stubbornly open, and she sighed, frustrated. 'Okay,' she counseled herself, 'backtrack to the west lift and see if it works from here.' Since she'd pass by the market for the upper floors anyway, Arianna walked inside the store, looking for her husband. The place was a wreck. Most of the shelves were empty of anything but detergents and dog food. Fresh produce was rotting malevolently in the bins, and the few tenants there were occupied in a desultory game of tug of war over what was left. Trying to back out quietly, she gasped as she hit the chest of someone behind her.

"Oh, god!" she put her hand to her racing heart. "Dr. Pangbourne. You startled me!" Suddenly remembering the man she'd met at Royal's table-the man who asked after Robert's brother Jeremy-was not the man she'd heard last night, Arianna carefully backed away from him, edging to the east elevator again.

He blinked and then smiled kindly. "Lovely Mrs. Laing. Doing some shopping? I'm afraid the selection seems dismal right now. The delivery service for the High Rise really should be replaced."

She nodded her head back rapidly, "You're right. I'd hoped for some vegetables for a roast tonight, but there you go."

Pangbourne eyed her gradual retreat. "I'm sure I have something at my place. Why don't you come in and see what you'd like?"

All Arianna could hear were the wails and laughter of those women last night, the flood of belongings being tossed from his balcony like garbage. She forced a smile. "You're so sweet, but Robert's waiting for me, so I'll just have him take me to a market nearby." Her steady backward retreat put her just at the corner of the lift, almost to safety. "Goodbye Dr. Pangbourne." Seeing the silver doors still open, Ari scampered inside, frantically pushing the 25th floor button.

Just as the doors were closing, she let out a shriek as Pangbourne surged at the door. "See you tonight, Lovely Mrs. Laing!" He shouted into the shaft, "Everyone's so eager to meet you!" The lift was just beginning it's descent, and Arianna sobbed her relief. They had to go, they had to go right fucking today and she would convince Robert that they just had to- She shrieked as the chrome box stopped abruptly, yanking on it's cables as the lights went out. The pitch black around her was crawling down her throat, making her choke and gasp until the emergency lights sullenly blinked on.

"Breathe slowly," she gasped to herself. "It's all right. It did this yesterday and everything was fine." Curling up with her knees to her chin, she shrieked again as the lift gave another loose jolt. "Breathe," she wheezed, "don't you dare fucking faint!" Dark spots were crowding the corners of her vision, but Arianna forced herself to breathe evenly, slowly. Putting her forehead to her knees, she sobbed. "Robert..." She crawled over to the control board, pushing the red "Emergency" button, but there was nothing but a flat buzz. Automatically reaching for her cell phone in her back pocket, Arianna realized she'd left it in the flat. Her breath surged up again again as her chest constricted. "Just breathe," she pictured Robert rubbing her back. "Just breathe, sweetheart. I have you." The last time she'd hyperventilated like this, when she couldn't breathe and couldn't get a full lungful of air-it was when the cracks in the foundation of their marriage turned into canyons.  When they got back from Jeremy's service.

 

___________________

 

She wouldn't even have known her husband had a brother she thought, if his office didn't have a new hire that week. "Mrs. Laing?" The voice was unfamiliar, but it was Robert's office number.

"Speaking," she agreed, tucking the phone under her chin as she put her messenger bag on the counter.

"I'm sorry to bother you," said the voice, "it's Emily from Dr. Laing's office. Is he in?"

"Not at the moment Emily, but can I help you?"

"Oh, I'm new here, but Dr. Laing's father left a message for him and it was urgent. I was trying to find him as quickly as possible." Arianna's forehead wrinkled. Robert's father? She could count on two fingers the amount of times they'd spoken since their marriage.

"It must be urgent," she said with concern. "What's the message? I'll track Dr. Laing down right now."

"I'm sorry to give you the sad news," Emily said, "Dr. Laing's father says that Jeremy- his brother- Jeremy has passed away." Mouth gaping like a fish, she forced herself to thank the temp and end the call. Her husband had a BROTHER?

Robert was coldly furious when she found him, gently hugging him and telling him the sad news. "Who called you from my office? Who told you this?"

"Um, a new girl I think- Emily? She wanted to get you the news from your father as quickly as possible." Arianna put her arms around her stiff husband again in a rush of sympathy, not noticing his were still slack at his side. "Sweetheart- I didn't even know you had a brother? Why did you never tell me?"

He finally collected himself to look down at his bride, seeing the sympathetic tears in her eyes. "Jeremy was- he was very sick. Challenged. He nearly drowned in a swimming accident at ten, and it caused irreparable brain damage. He was in a care center near my parent's home." Wrapping her arms around his rigid middle, Ari was consumed with sadness for Robert's lost brother- invisible 'till his death. "You don't have to come with me, darling." Her husband was swiftly packing as Arianna laid out his toiletries and hers. "It's a bouncy, uncomfortable flight and a very short trip."

She looked at him, genuinely shocked. "Of course I'm coming, Robert! This is your brother, sweetheart. Maybe I can help with your parents, but no matter what I'll just be there if you need me. Or...anything." she finished lamely, looking at her husband's blank expression. Taking his hand and squeezing, she chose not to notice that he didn't squeeze back. Arianna stayed by her husband through the flight and the drive to his family home.

When they pulled in front of the huge, gloomy brick mansion, Robert held back before getting out. "Ari, my parents, they're not- they're not warm people." He said carefully. "I know in your family, a wake would involve lots of hugging and, uh- emotion. I don't want you to feel hurt that your affectionate nature isn't returned, all right?" He looked at his little wife's guileless green eyes, wide with sympathy.

"Of course, sweetheart. It's not about me, though. I'll just... follow your lead, all right?"

He put a huge palm to her cheek. "Thank you."

Laying her head against his hand, Ari smiled. "I love you. That's all you need to remember. I'm just here if you need me."

The man who opened the huge front door was a still-handsome version of her husband, 45 years older. "Well, here at last, Robert."

Ari lowered her eyes from the old man's pursed lips. He had to know they'd taken the first flight out. Her husband shook his father's hand. "This is my wife, Father. Arianna, this is the elder Dr. Laing."

Smiling with her hand out, she waited for the dry, stiff shake as she said, "It's a pleasure at last, Dr. Laing. I'm so very sorry about Jeremy."

Ushering them down the chilly hall, his brow rose. "Why? You didn't know him."

Ari kept the careful smile plastered to her face, aware of her Robert's stiff walk beside her. "Because he was your son and Robert's brother, sir."

The study was an abrupt change from the freezing entry, with a blazing fire in the huge fireplace, and a silver-haired woman wrapped in blankets.

"Mother." Robert leaned down to kiss her cheek and re-arrange the blanket over her shoulder. Both sets of blue eyes turned to her, Arianna seeing the faded version on his mother. "This is my wife, Arianna Lennox Laing. Ari, my mother Katherine."

"Mrs. Laing, honored to meet you at last. I'm truly sorry for your loss." Her outstretched hand was touched briefly before the chilly hand returned under the blanket. 

"My son Jeremy died in the swimming accident when he was 10." Ari felt rather than saw her husband's face turn to concrete before he moved back to speak to his father. Katherine continued, "The shell that passed yesterday, that was someone else." Her eyes looked sharply at her daughter-in-law. "You're Scottish?" The observation was more of a condemnation than a question, but Arianna simply nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. The Lennox clan is near Glasgow, but we grew up mainly near London, when my father had his practice there. So my accent is variable."

"And where did you meet my son?"

"At Cambridge University. I'd just graduated and Robert was accepting an award from the medical college."

She was relieved when they were called into dinner, her mother-in-law spent most of the time looking her over carefully. The dining room was cold again, like the hall. The door opened and a man in a priest's collar entered. "So very sorry to be late, last minute issues for the service tomorrow."

"Father Larrabee," intoned the older Laing. "This is Robert's new wife, Arianna."

The priest's kindly smile made her relax. Finally, there was someone else at the table without a spine made of concrete. Walking back into the super-heated study for discussion about the next day, Robert finally put a large hand on his wife's back. "Doing all right?" He murmured.

She smiled up at him, trying to put all the warmth and support she could into the moment. "Everything's fine."

Father Larrabee was magical-a black-clad buffer between them and the grim elder Laings. He teased Katherine into bringing out a good bottle of scotch, pouring a generous round and cajoling everyone into a toast. Robert and Ari were pressed to talk about their wedding nearly two years past. 

"I sent pictures," she volunteered, looking at her mother-in-law. 

"Yes," Katherine answered vaguely, "they're around here somewhere."

Walking around the study as the conversations split into groups, Arianna looked at her husband, growing up in expensive silver frames. Each one was posed formally, even his graduation from medical school. She thought back to her flat, with pictures of friends and family cramming the refrigerator and all her mirrors. Pausing before one, she guessed it was Robert around 11 or 12, a younger version of himself also in suit and tie like his brother. "Jeremy looks so much like Robert," she smiled back at her mother-in-law.

Katherine took a shaky sip of scotch. "Oh, heavens yes. Jeremy born less than a year after Robert. Always tearing about together."

Ari smiled, "We call those 'Irish Twins' back home."

"Hmmmm," her mother-in-law clearly found the title too common to accept. Walking to the next picture, Ari could see it was maybe ten years later. Jeremy was in a wheelchair fastened to hold him upright, and still wedged into a suit and tie. Robert's hand was protectively over his shoulder. No one was even pretending to smile in this portrait. "I remember this," Katherine's tone was fretful. "Jeremy's suit all dirty because Robert and he wrestled about, playing when we were trying to get a decent picture." Looking up to see her husband's frozen blue eyes watching them, her heart twisted. "He was always encouraging Jeremy out of his chair, tickling each other and behaving in a ridiculous way-"

Her voice was turning querulous and thin, and Father Larrabee briskly made his way over. "Now Katherine, you must show Robert that new painting before they leave for the inn..." Turning back to the photo, Ari looked again at the large hand of her husband, perched protectively over his broken brother.

Entering their hotel room that night, Robert seemed to exhale for the first time that day. "Are you all right, my sweetheart?" Arianne hugged him gently from behind, resting her cheek against his broad back.

"All's well," he patted her hands and gently moved away. But when she pulled the covers back on the bed, he was suddenly on top of her and inside her before Ari could even squeak. Robert pushed back and forth immediately and even though it was hurting her, long legs went around his waist as she held him, crooning her love as her husband finished with a hard thrust, falling asleep while still connected inside her.

The service was as dry and chilly as Arianna expected the next day, standing next to her rigid spouse, wearing her black Prada suit and huge rope of pearls. Father Larrabee sought her out back at the house as Robert spoke with old neighbors. "How are you doing, my dear?"

"It's not about me, Father. But I'm so glad you've been here to make things better with Robert and his parents. You're a magician with awkward moments," she smiled.

Hands moving restlessly around his black jacket, the priest frowned. "I know it's a weakness before the Lord, but I hate not having a smoke after such a day. You wouldn't happen to...?" 

Arianna laughed as they walked outside. "I'm sorry, Father. I don't smoke. But I have fond memories of my family's priest- Father O'Connell bumming smokes off the parish ladies after service every week." They walked in silence after the priest found a cigarette donor. "Have, um... have Robert's parents always been..." she was trying to think of a word that wouldn't sound so terrible, but he cut her off with a laugh.

"Encased in a block of ice?"

"I didn't say that!" Protested Arianna with a grin.

"The Laings were quite a bit older when the Lord chose to finally bless them with children. Maybe if they'd been younger, they could have mellowed a bit. But this was their last chance, and those boys had to be perfect. I often counseled them to relax their standards, but..." he sighed heavily, putting out his smoke. "When Jeremy got hurt, they held Robert responsible."

Ari frowned. "But, why? Was he there?"

"No, he was at school, and Jeremy went to play in the family's pool- it used to be right over there." The old priest point at a bricked-terrace part of the garden. "No one's sure what happened, they found him floating face-down."

"That's horrible- this poor family." She shook her head sadly, unable even to imagine it happening to her parents. "But why would they hold Robert responsible? He was a child, they were the adults. They were responsible for Jeremy's safety- Robert wasn't even here!"

The Father shook his head sadly. "Grief is rarely rational, my dear. They had very rigid expectations for their boys." Larrabee wiped his hand over his weathered face, drawing a smile as he turned to her. "You obviously love Robert, despite his somewhat, say, rigid personality." He chuckled.

Ari looked behind them to make sure they were alone. "My friends call him The Doctor Laing, full capital letters. Because of his gravitas, you see," she grinned. "But he's a wonderfully kind and loving person in private, more relaxed."

The old priest looked sad. "It's a blessing Robert has you now, dear. From then on, he was expected to accomplish greatness for both of them, to make up for Jeremy's loss. He has done incredible things, I know. But it would never be enough to make up for his brother's so-called share of heaping honors to the family name."

Arianna took a breath, suddenly desperate to go home, to leave this mausoleum and it's chilly inhabitants and take her husband back where he belonged.


	16. Is This Red Or Yellow?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert does something not nice here. It's not rape, more like doing that thing your boyfriend wanted just to get him to finally shut the hell up. But trigger warning just in case.

Arianna had lost time of how long she'd been in the murky light of the still lift. She could occasionally hear voices, filtered through the shaft. She hopefully yelled herself hoarse but never got the sense they heard her. "Robert must be worried sick," she thought, tears springing in her eyes again.

\--------------------

Things definitely went from bad to worse when the Laings came home from Jeremy's funeral. It was like a dense ball of rubber bands, snapping loose one after another, pinging away faster and faster around the room before they could be wrapped secure again. Robert spent more time at the hospital, accepted more invitations to lecture. She was used to cycles of greater demands on her husband, but now it seemed like he sought it out. Absently fiddling with her wine glass, Arianna looked over the room at another awards dinner where he'd been honored again. He was so handsome, she thought, smiling at Laing's dark beauty in his charcoal suit and a blue shirt she'd begged him to wear because she loved how it brought out the color in his eyes. The crowds parted slightly, and the brunette could finally see who he was talking to. The woman was luscious, there was no getting around it, Ari thought with dismay. Exquisite curves in a red dress, flaming red hair and her husband was leaning down to speak to her more closely. Her feet were moving briskly before Arianna knew what she was doing, but she wasn't just going to stand there. Robert wasn't one to behave in a way that would make her jealous, didn't flirt with her friends or stare too long at someone's tits. But his blue eyes seemed focused in that direction on the redhead.

"Darling!" Her voice came out louder than she meant it to, and Arianna flushed as heads around them turned to look. She slipped her arm through his and smiled up at her husband.

"Ari, nearly ready to leave?"

"When you are, sweetheart." She looked pointedly at the smirking redhead, and Robert nodded.

"Oh, this is Tasha Lawrence, she used to date Dr. Morgan. Tasha, my wife Arianna."

"You didn't tell me she was so young, Robert." The woman only briefly glanced at her before gazing back at Laing. She was idly running one finger under the thick band of a gold necklace fitted around her neck.

"But wise beyond her years," Robert replied gallantly, fondly looking down at his wife. "Shall we go, darling?"

Gratefully squeezing his arm, Arianna turned with him and walked for the door.

"Who was that woman?" She asked a little sullenly later that night, getting ready for bed.

His brow furrowed. "Where? At the event?"

"Yes, Tauh-shaaa," she elaborated childishly. "Did you two know each other well?"

"We had some similar- interests. Did you like that necklace she wore tonight?"

Ari's pulse quickened. She was angry and defensive, she couldn't pinpoint why, other than the woman's rudeness at the introduction. "It's not like you to notice jewelry, sweetheart."

"Ah," his voice was distant, "her's was special. It's a collar made to fasten permanently around her throat."

"What?" Ari frowned. "A collar?" Like a dog?"

Robert's cold blue eyes looked over her. "No. A collar to show she belongs to another. It can only be removed by him."

Her response was tainted by her intimidation of the slutty redhead, she knew this. "So," Ari said a little spitefully, "like she's his dog, then."

Her husband rolled his eyes at her. "Go to bed, darling. You're cranky."

Next was her ass. Specifically, that Laing was intent on finding his way into it. Ari was angry that she'd endured his fingers and even that disgusting toy, but she never expected he'd want to put his cock in there. It seemed obviously impossible. The man was gigantic, and even inside where it was meant to be still took some time and coaxing.

Arianna lay resentfully on her belly, feeling his persuasive kisses on her neck and shoulders as he ran one, then two fingers inside her ass. "You're exquisite," he whispered, "such a beautiful, perfect ass." She stiffened fearfully when she felt a third finger touch her anus.

"Robert, please!" She said, "Too much!"

He was running the tip of his tongue on that soft spot behind her ear, tugging on her lobe before answering. "You're just nervous. Once you've taken three of my fingers, you'll be ready to take me."

"What?" Her head shot up, narrowly missing bashing into his nose. "No! No, you can't be serious?"

He leaned on to his side, looking at her face, his fingers still locked where they were. "Yes. You'll love it, you just need to be prepared. That's why we've been taking this step so slowly."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Robert, you can't fit there- you can barely fit in my- my-."

"Your pussy?" He interrupted. "Your cunt? Your delicious kitty?"

"Stop!" she buried her fiery face into her her pillow. "You don't have to be so crass, you know!" Pulling his fingers smoothly from her, Robert rose from the bed. "Where are you going?" Arianna knew she was whining, but she couldn't seem to stop it.

"Tidying up." He turned on the bathroom light and shut the door. She was asleep by the time he came back to bed.

The failed attempt didn't stop him from trying again. And again. Arianna was scared to come to bed, she was by nature so easily quelled that telling her beloved husband 'no' to anything was excruciating.

"Robert," she whined one night as his fingers slipped to her anus again. "Please." His broad hand stopped on her soft cheeks.

"Is this a yellow, darling?" His voice was cold, but composed. "Or a red?"

"Red?" she said hopefully.

Rubbing his hand across her ass, he said, "Anal sex is far more common that you know. And I'll make you come, just as I do in your lovely little kitty. Indirect stimulation of the clitoris or an area of the vagina associated with the G-spot in women, and other sensory nerves-especially the pudendal nerve-can spark a wildly satisfying response."

Ari recognized his "lecture voice," used during teaching surgeries and when coaxing her into something she didn't want to do. It was his usual deep and sonorous tone, but with an intimidating and clinical distance that was unnerving.

His fingers dipped into the lube in a jar by his hip and started toward her ass again. "The internal and external sphincter muscles control the opening and closing of the anus; these muscles, which are sensitive membranes made up of many nerve endings, facilitate pleasure or pain during anal sex." He continued conversationally, smoothly slipping two fingers between the globes of her bottom.

"Robert," she moaned. He stilled.

"Is this a red?" His voice was dark and unsympathetic, but his hand didn't move.

Ari's head dropped down. "Yellow?" she said pleadingly.

His lecture voice was back. "In addition to sexual penetration by the penis, people may use sex toys such as butt plugs or anal beads, engage in fingering, anilingus, pegging, anal masturbation or fisting." She gasped. His free hand began gently massaging her defensive, tight buttocks as his lubed hand moved down again. "The vagina is flanked on each side by the clitoral crura, the internal "legs" of the clitoris, which are highly sensitive and become engorged with blood when sexually aroused. In addition to nerve endings present within the anus and rectum, women may find anal stimulation pleasurable due to indirect stimulation of these "legs"."

Robert's hand moved from massaging her bottom to lifting her and pulling a pillow under her hips, arching her ass higher. "Robert..." Ari's mouth was dry, she couldn't manage more than a whisper. His fingers slid again to her pink and anxious pucker, the cool streak of lube trailing them. As he started circling her anus with his slick fingers, his other hand went to her pussy, sliding up and down in a slow, maddening way, tickling her clit on the way up each time. As two fingers started to slip into the tight ring of her ass, Ari yelped again.

"Yellow!" she moaned.

His lecture voice inexorably continued. "The Gräfenberg spot, or G-spot, is typically described as being located behind the female pubic bone surrounding the urethra and accessible through the anterior wall of the vagina..." Arianna could feel two thick fingers begin to push past her tight ring, she gave a small whimper trying to hide her face in the pillow. Robert still heard it and paused his fingers, "Besides the shared anatomy of the aforementioned sensory nerves, orgasm by indirect stimulation of the clitoris or G-spot area through anal penetration is possible because of the close proximity between the vaginal cavity and the rectal cavity..." Fingers moved again, slipping past the tight ring and into her. After gently moving back and forth a few times, Ari could feel the fingers scissoring her tight passage, making room for a-

"Ow!" she moaned, trying not to shake.

Again, Robert paused, then sent a third finger in. "You're doing so well, my precious girl. So well." He kissed her neck again, still tickling her clit as the three fingers behind stretched her painfully.

It hurt so much worse than she could imagine, and Ari bit against the pillow, trying not to cry. Her ass felt like it was on fire, the heat and pain of the three rigid fingers too intrusive to ignore or will away. When she felt his fingers widen her anus to move his cock to the entrance, the breath caught in her throat and stopped there, choking her. 'Oh, FUCK, he's killing me!' she thought. Dancing on four broken toes, the time she'd fallen off a horse at her grandfather's estate and the horse stepped on her rib cage- they were nothing compared to this. Dimly feeling his fingers slip away as his cock made it's way past the ring and into her, moving slowly but never stopping, Ari tried to unlock her paralyzed lungs and breathe. 'Please stop! God, he's ripping me in half...' she thought, beginning to hate Robert for doing this to her. His persuasive whispers and kissing faded away, and she sat still in the center of her agony, just waiting for him to finish. Ari sat passively through his aftercare and waited until her satisfied husband fell asleep.

'This is the last time,' she thought. 'The last time I let him.'

But it wasn't the last time. The next time was worse, because Robert's darkly persuasive voice and tantalizing fingers made Arianna come with him. Even with the pain of him searing along inside her, his cock also hit nerve endings that made her jump and squirm, his fingers playing inside her pussy that the same time, pressing gently on the membrane separating them from his thrusting. It was genuinely shocking when she literally poured herself over his hand when she came. This just served to make Ari even angrier, and she resentfully listened to his filthy praise, whispered in her ear as Robert came just after. He made her do this dirty thing, then he made her _enjoy_ it. It horrified her that something that hurt so much could make her come equally as hard. And it was her husband's fault. All of it. Just another of increasingly scary things that Robert brought to their bed, smoothly seducing her out of her timid 'reds' and 'yellows.' Until the night Robert brought the flogger to bed, and his wife could do nothing but scream.


	17. How Fortunate That I Have An Override Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are no safe words here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was torn on how rough this actually turned out. I have a plan, but this was difficult to write.

Arianna shrieked as the lift jolted back into activity, moving smoothly down to the 25th floor as if nothing had ever been amiss. As the doors opened, Robert launched himself inside before she could even get to her feet, kissing her all over her face, putting his hands on her, restlessly moving to check her for wounds. "Wife," he hissed into her ear, "sweet wife. Are you all right? I was terrified when I came back to the flat- are you okay?" Looking over her husband's shoulder, she could see the nasty visage of Anthony Royal smiling malevolently at her as her husband frantically searched her for injuries. Looking from the man she hated with a white-hot heat, Ari forced herself to smile at her distraught husband.

"I'm okay, Robert. I'm so glad to see you, that's all." Biting the inside of her cheek until she could taste the coppery mist of her own blood, she breathed deep, still staring at Royal hovering behind her husband. Running shaking hands over his shirt, Arianna managed to ask, "How- how long was I in there?"

She could feel his hand on the back of her head, unconsciously smoothing her hair, over and over. "About twenty minutes, darling. I'm so sorry, you were right about the power brown-outs."

She could feel the others trailing them as Robert picked her up, carrying her back to the flat. "Where were you?" she whispered, trying not to cry. "I waited and waited until I thought something happened to you- you were gone for an hour and a half-" He looked down at her with a frown, but turned instead as he opened the front door.

"Thank you, Anthony," he said with deep gratitude. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

Ari buried her face into his neck, trying to stop the scream rising in her throat against the man smiling at her, black eyes horridly aware. "Always, my dear boy. How fortunate that I have an override key. _Such_ a terrible thing. Lovely Mrs. Laing, are you well? I'd call a doctor, but you're married to one." He laughed, along with the other people surrounding them.

She looked at Robert as he smiled at Royal. "No need. She just needs a moment. We'll see you tonight at the party, then?"

Gasping, she gritted her teeth as the man smiled at her knowingly. "Wouldn't let you miss it!" he called as Robert closed the door, "It wouldn't be a party without the two of you!" Ari could hear Royal laughing as the door shut with a click.

Placing her on the couch, Laing gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I'll make you some tea, you just need to relax. I've got you, sweetheart. All I could think about was you fighting your claustrophobia, locked up in there..." He kissed her again.

Ari managed to collect her thoughts. "I went looking for you after an hour and a half. The lift wouldn't go down, for some reason, only to the 26th floor. I looked for you-" she gritted her teeth against a sob. "I- I saw Dr. Pangbourne and got back into the lift again, but it stalled. What happened to you?"

Putting together a tray with her tea and some mugs, her husband looked at her, confused. "Darling," he said carefully, "I couldn't have been more than twenty minutes. I came back to find you gone with no note and started searching for you."

Arianna frowned, this wasn't right- "No, I waited for an hour and a half-your phone was here, so I couldn't reach you. That's why I went looking for you."

Robert looked down at his Rolex, confused. "Ari, it's less than an hour now since I left the flat to get those papers. it's three-ten pm?"

She shook her head, "No, Robert! You left around noon, remember? I was making lunch-"

He shook his head, looking at the dirty dishes on the dining room table. He smiled, clearly prepared to humor her, Arianna thought angrily. "We had a late lunch, and I went down for the papers in the car. It's all right. You lost time sitting in that bloody lift, that's all." Burying her head in the crook of his neck, she wondered if she was the one going insane.

Robert shook his head, taking her face in his hands and kissing her lightly, carefully, over her face, her lips, sliding down her neck. Feeling a long sigh draw up from her chest, he smiled as he slid down further to move her shirt aside to suck the nipple of one breast into his mouth through the soft cotton of her bra. The cloth turned transparent, and he admired the dark pink tightness of her nipple. Gently squeezing that breast with one large palm, her husband moved to the other for the same treatment. Groaning and gasping lightly, the brunette was embarrassed to admit that afternoon that she was willing to not argue the truth if an orgasm was at stake. Sliding greedily in and out of his wife, Robert kissed her, whispering promises and filthy compliments. "I can feel your heart pounding, my precious slut...God, inside you feel like wet, hot velvet." He yanked her legs harder over his hips. "Every time I come inside you, I'm already thinking about the next time I can be back into this sweet, impossibly tight kitty again." Ari arched her back blissfully as he yanked her arms over her head, moving her hips harder as the position let him push deeper inside her. Even though his thrusts were jolting her now, she still moaned, reaching up to kiss and bite at his neck, appreciating his warm arms around her as they moved together. Shuddering through the last of her frantic convulsions, Arianna let out a pleasurable scream she felt Robert's teeth dig hard into her neck as he came with her.

"We should start getting ready." Robert's voice broke through her blissful haze and her eyes opened abruptly.

"For what?" Arianna prayed he wouldn't say the thing that he did, next.

"For Royal's party. I think it's a perfect distraction for you after such a difficult afternoon." Laing was already on his feet and gently pulling Ari to hers.

"Robert," she said despairingly. "Everything feels like it's falling apart here. Did I tell you the market on 26 was torn apart? Nothing there but glass cleaner and pet food. Let's go, let's just-" His face was already falling into impassive lines, those beautiful eyes turning icy blue.

"Do you remember our agreement?" His voice was cold, distant.

"What? What agreement, sweetheart? This place isn't safe, it's-"

Suddenly, his face was directly level with hers, eyes burning into her frightened green ones. "Do you. Remember. Our agreement, darling?"

Trying to force herself to calm down, trying to understand what her husband meant, Arianna drew a deep breath. "About staying here, with you. For a week? That one?"

He stood up. "Yes, darling. 'That one.'" he emphasized. "Are you going back on your word?"

Ari shook her head despairingly, "No, sweetheart, no! I just- this place...can we go out tonight? Please?"

"We are," he answered shortly as he walked into his closet. "To the Pagan Ball."

It was the smell that hit her first as they walked into Royal's enormous penthouse flat; a stink of weed, expensive perfume, cigarette smoke and- Arianna's nose wrinkled, -and come. Most of the party goers were dressed in very little but flowers and scraps of cloth. The Laings stood out in his crisp blue suit and the low-backed black dress he'd selected for her. Ari wasn't surprised they were in regular evening wear, she'd once suggested to her husband that they dress up for a costume ball used as a fundraiser for pediatric neurology at his hospital. His look of disgust at the time made her laugh. Averting her eyes from two very large breasts adorned with a rose petal, Arianna held to Robert's arm, praying she could entice him away soon.

"Robert!"

She groaned internally, hearing the spiteful pleasure in their host's voice as he spotted them. "And Lovely Mrs. Laing. So happy to see you recovered after that unpleasantness this afternoon," he crooned. "And what do you think of my home, dear?"

"It's magnificent," Arianna answered honestly, looking around the soaring space, a gigantic room broken only by retaining walls, featuring fireplaces, giant fish tanks or enormous TV screens, "an absolute palace, Mr. Royal." Her answer seemed to placate some of the malice out of his expression, and he drew forward to take her elbow.

"You must come see the view, dear."

Royal was already drawing her away from Robert's grasp on her arm. Ari looked back, expecting her husband to smoothly pull her away and stand between them, a trick he'd perfected after years of parties and gatherings. But, he didn't. Robert smiled at her lovingly and turned to take a glass from a passing waiter. She went lax with shock. He let this horrible man touch her? Pull her away? Removing her arm out of his grip with as much grace as she could muster, Arianna followed him to one of the two story windows that surrounded the entire penthouse.

"Do you see the view, Lovely Mrs. Laing?" Royal's breath smelled of scotch and something sour she couldn't place. He was wearing a African style white hunting jacket, stains already on the sleeve.

"It's magnificent, Mr. Royal. Undeniably." She eyed him carefully. "You look very Great White Hunter tonight. I thought this was a Pagan's Ball?"

He laughed, his flat, black eyes almost twinkling with a feral anticipation she didn't understand. "But of course, Lovely Mrs. Laing. I am the Great White Hunter who gathers the savages under a firm, ruling hand. And they worship me for it."

"As you've said," Arianna was scanning behind him, looking for Robert. 'Well,' she thought, 'fuck it.' "So how much of your own twisted mythology do you actually believe?"

Royal's laugh broke out, joyful that he could finally provoke her into dropping the facade. "All of it, darling. Every last, stinking, filthy little bit." He leaned in and she almost choked on the fumes, "And you will too. Just like the good Doctor Laing."

"Did I hear my name?" Robert slid between them with a smile, handing his wife a glass.

"Yes, my boy. I was sharing with your dear wife that the Royal empire is about to expand." Royal placed a hand on Robert's shoulder, smiling fondly. Once again, Ari stared in shock. Robert was not a touchy-feely person. At all. How he was allowing the loathsome hand of Anthony Royal on him while smiling easily was unimaginable. "In fact, let's share with the class, shall we?" Her husband managed to snag her hand as their host led him away. "Friends!" Royal shouted, "good news to share!" He clicked a remote and the huge TV screen next to them came to life. Arianna craned her head to look at the picture - a blueprint of what looked like matching towers to the High Rise, six of them spiraling from the original building. "Groundbreaking begins for the next phase of the High Rise Kingdom, that would be buldings four and five," he gloated, "in the meantime, High Rise #2 is nearly finished, and we already have 3 members of Parliament who've already pre-purchased their flats in that building!" Swaying slightly, Ari slid her arm through Robert's trying to ground herself. More? How many more versions of this Hell on earth?

"And," he continued, "we're happy to announce the Ambassador from Brazil-" he bowed lightly to a fat, silver-haired man with his arm around a suspiciously underage-looking blonde, "has purchased a flat here at the High Rise for his- ah, quieter activities. We're well on the way to become the sovereign nation we have always planned!" The room was beginning to spin a little as Arianna closed her eyes tightly. The crowd was cheering Royal, shouting praise for his sick vision. And when she turned to look at her husband, she realized he was clapping, too.

As some of the crowd drifted away, some of the men stayed with Royal, Robert and Ari, who was gently trying to urge her husband away. "The only problem," drawled Dr Pangbourne, "is the trouble with the... lower floors."

"Some of those filth blocked off the stairwell between the 5th and 7th floors," complained another, busy snorting coke off his wrist, he paused, facing turning red as the blow hit his system. "Ah, better. My maid couldn't come up and clean. Had to fire her. Seems someone pushed her back down the stairs, broke both legs."

Pangbourne leaned in, staring at a shaken Ari. "Complaints about the power outages, I had to correct some ridiculous bitch from the 19th floor who claimed they should get an equal share of the power and water."

"Robert," she whispered desperately, "please, could we talk somewhere for a moment?" Arianna couldn't believe they were standing in the middle of this sordid, surreal discussion and that her husband simply continued to sip his drink. "Please?" Looking up at Robert, she realized how flushed his face was, his blue eyes bloodshot. Her brows drew together, the man could hold his drink and he never got drunk- especially in front of others, Robert would never lose control like that.

He smiled down at her, and for a moment it was her Robert again. "Of course, darling-"

"Doctor and Lovely Mrs. Laing!" Royal interrupted them loudly, "I've been thinking it was time for you to move... there's a lovely flat just below ours, far larger than yours now, very comfortable. Son," he placed a hand on Robert's shoulder again,"it's perfect for you, for your position." From the corner of her eye, Arianna could see a flash of confusion, then rage pass over Wilder's face.

"Anthony, that was meant to be-" he started.

"Oh hush Wilder, and stop your fretting. Your time will come soon enough." Royal waved a hand grandly, ignoring Wilder's furious, red face. Others gathered closer, drawn by Royal's loud announcement. Ari noticed that more and more bits of clothing were missing from the sweating, drunken partygoers. Averting her eyes from a woman obviously giving head to the man sitting next to her, she shook Robert's arm harder than she meant to.

"Robert!" She said sharply, "Please! Can we talk somewhere alone!" A ripple of mocking laughter went through the group as his eyes narrowed warningly.

"Darling," he took her clutching hand off his arm and unconsciously put both her thin wrists together, holding them tightly with one big fist. Royal noticed the grip and his black grin grew wider. "You're being rude to our host," he hissed. "Mr. Royal just made us a very gracious offer, and this is how you show appreciation?" Laing watched as her jaw literally dropped, gaping at his red, furious face. She was making a _scene_ , he hated that more than _anything_. Yet here she was, acting like a spoiled little bitch.

"Robert," she moaned, "we have a home, remember? In Knightsbridge, with neighbors we like and a little garden, and we walk down to Marie's cafe and have beignets and tea on the weekend. That's home- this lunatic cesspool isn't HOME!" Her voice came out in a shout and Ari couldn't seem to stop it.

She actually took a step back from her husband. Laing's face was sheet white, his eyes blazing furiously, his mouth in a tight line. He took her arm and led her roughly from the laughing group. "How fucking DARE you, you spoiled little princess!" He hissed, "You throw a tantrum here, at my home? In front of my friends?"

"It's not-" she started.

"Just shut up!" Robert was so angry he was snarling, "We will address this after the party." He took hold of her wrists again and not-quite yanked her around as their host bellowed again.

"Ladies and gentleman, every pagan festival requires a virgin sacrifice!"

The huge doors opened from the outside and a white horse trotted in, carrying Royal's wife Anne, completely naked, except for flowers in her hair. She smiled, graciously accepting the applause. As she drew closer, Arianna could see her nipples shimmered with glitter, and her vagina literally doused with more, sparkling aggressively. "Lovely, delicious thing," drawled Royal, kissing his wife's hand. "But- not quite the virgin, are you, darling?" Ann's smile disappeared as her eyes narrowed. "Well-used, put up wet more than once, just like your horse, correct?" An ugly trill of laughter rippled through the group as still perched on her horse, Ann's face flushed an angry red. "So regal, up on that beast, your hospitable cunt glittering like a traffic light. Lovely. But the farthest thing from a virgin, my dear whore-wife." Arianna was nauseous. Robert whispered all kinds of dirty, delicious things in her ear when they were entwined in each other during sex. She loved those whispers, craved them as they tipped her into orgasm. But the words here were so ugly, so humiliating to even witness being spoken to someone else. Her eyes were downcast, so she didn't see their malicious host turn in her direction. "Really, if we were to be honest-" his black gaze scanned the crowd, "there's not a single one of you who hasn't been fucked on these white couches, more than once." He laughed his low drawling chuckle, "Sometimes two or three of us on you at a time." Several of the women started giggling loudly, spilling their drinks and pretending to be embarrassed. "So, if we were to be completely accurate, the Lovely Mrs Laing would be the closest thing to a virgin any of us has seen in a very long time."

The applause was immediate, shouts from the crowd washing over the Laings as they stood next to a laughing Royal.

"Take that fucking dress off and get her up on that horse!"

"Come on then, Lady Godiva, up you go!"

Arianna started shaking her head, faster and more violently as Robert turned to look down at her. 'Oh, no. Nonononono,' she thought despairingly. His eyes were a flat and pale blue, with no expression, no emotion as he looked at her. "I'm not- I won't!" Her chest was beginning to twist inside her, drawing air turning thick as mud.

Her husband cocked his head, looking her up and down, clinically. "I believe you will, darling." Ari bit her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. "I'll lead the horse around the circle, no one will touch you. With your pearls and your hair over those sweet breasts, no one will see a thing." He'd been drawing her closer, ignoring the frantic shakes of her head. "I'm going show them what is mine," he whispered into her ear, "taunt them with how beautiful you are, how perfect. And they will suffer in the knowledge that unlike all the used-up whores here, they will _never_  have you." His hand slid up her heaving chest, gently stroking her neck. "Breathe now, darling. You're just fine. Do you want all these people to think you're afraid?"

She finally managed to draw a full gulp of air. "I won't. Not _ever_. How dare you ask me for this?"

"Now sweetheart," he said, "this is no different than the club. You sucked me in front of an audience, you came wailing as I flogged you. This is just a simple ride around the party. Then, I'll take you home."

Her spine stiffened in horror as Royal laughed heartily, Arianna's flush of shame deepened as she realized he'd heard Robert.

Arianna angrily shook her head, staring at the reptilian eyes of her husband. This was nothing like the bondage club where her lover gave her those sexually-charged challenges. A darkened, elegant place where no one knew who they were, no one shouted filth and encouragement. This poisonous pile of concrete was Hell. And Royal was the fucking Devil, laughing at her terror.

"How could you love me and ask this, Robert?" Her voice broke a little.

"You are mine, THIS is mine." He cupped her pelvis hard. "And they will suffer forever knowing they can never touch you." The shouting and jeering crowd was still there, but she couldn't take her eyes from her husband and his flat, reptilian eyes. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this wasn't something where her safe word would make any difference. Without taking his eyes from her, Robert jerked his head at Royal. "Move your wife." Dimly, Arianna heard an indignant shriek as Ann was yanked from the saddle. Their hostess was further insulted as Laing pulled a nearby tablecloth and folded it over the saddle as a barrier between where her glittered cunt had rested and the body of his wife. Ignoring her terrified gasp, he moved back to her and easily tossed her on the saddle. Ari was shaking so hard that she couldn't seem to make her lips form words, and she watched as her husband carefully arranged her hair and thick ropes of pearls over her breasts, concealing them. She did yelp out loud when his hands went behind her, gripping the low back of her dress and literally ripped it apart and off her. A cheer went up as Ari heard the rending cloth pull from her, the sweaty air touching her long, bare back.

'Of course,' she thought trying not to cry, 'of course he wouldn't let me wear panties tonight.' The movement of the horse jolted her forward, and Arianna grabbed the fork on the saddle, steadying herself. Her mantra from the bondage club came back. 'Don't look at them. Just don't look.' Misting green eyes stared directly at the back of Robert's head, leading her as promised in a long, painfully slow circle around the gigantic penthouse. She knew that the lusting eyes on her couldn't see anything more intimate than the top of her ass, but she had never felt more exposed, more naked. There was nothing but the back of her husband's head and the carnival blur of the faces shouting at her. Robert struck a man hard on the face as his hand reached out for her, then viciously hit another one as well. Five more people met his fist until the tortuous circuit was finished. Arianna was beyond shame or fear at that point, just a mindless whisper over and over from the smallest part of her, "I want my mum...I need my mum..."

Dimly hearing their filthy host shout, "Your Virgin Sacrifice!" Ari felt Robert take off his jacket and wrap it securely around her before lifting her off the horse. After drinking a final toast with Royal, he began to lead her to the door, his protective maneuvering keeping anyone from touching her. Her knees gave way outside the door and Laing carried her swiftly back to his flat.

Putting her down once inside, he looked closely into her eyes. "Darling, you were magnificent. Spectacular," he praised. Dazedly glancing at him as if trying to place who he was, Arianna pulled away and walked unsteadily into the master bathroom, dropping his jacket at the door before closing it and locking it.


	18. Losing Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hell is a bloody concrete pile

It took about half an hour before Ari heard Robert start knocking irritably on the door.

"Darling, open the door. You're being childish." She turned her head on the side of the tub, looking at the door, but she couldn't seem to make her arms and legs move. In another fifteen minutes, she heard an exasperated, "This is fucking ridiculous." A key on the outside clicked the lock and her husband strode in. "You're going to freeze to death, let's get you out of there."

He reached for her arm, and Ari's hand shot out to stop him. "DON'T! Just...don't." Slowly forcing herself to her feet, she grabbed a huge white towel and wrapped it tightly, her thin arms pressing defensively against her sides. Looking at their reflections in the mirror, she couldn't decide who looked worse. Her lips were still pale, with a slightly unfocused gaze that Arianna assumed meant she was coming out of shock. Robert, well, looked nothing like Robert. The bloodshot eyes and greasy film of perspiration on his face were completely alien. There was blood on his shirt cuff, his knuckles scraped raw from viciously hitting those men earlier. He stared at her for a moment, looking her over.

"Your pupils are dilated," he said suddenly, "your face looks bloodless. Are you in shock?" He reached out to her wrist to take her pulse, and Ari backed away. She swallowed, knowing anything she said would likely start the final fight of their marriage, and she was still trapped in this nightmare with hours before dawn and a safe getaway.

"You look worse, Robert. You look like you're sick. Did you get drunk? I only saw you have a couple of drinks tonight."

His brows drew together. "Of course not," but he wavered for a moment, suddenly looking uncertain. "Are- are you all right, Ari?" She couldn't think of anything to tell him, so she started making her way slowly from the bathroom. Behind her, the toilet lid suddenly flew open and she could hear her husband vomiting wretchedly. In their three years together, she'd never seen him sick, not even a fever. But the man behind her was violently expelling everything but his internal organs. Her numbed feet slowly turned, and she shakily took a hand towel, wetting it and placing it over the back of his heaving neck. The smell was terrible, scotch, some horrid punch from the party and a sharp chemical smell she didn't recognize. Turning, she walked carefully out of the bathroom and sank down on the chair facing his bed, the spot where Robert kept vigil over her sleep those past nights. Another smell hit her, and Arianna turned to see that Robert had slapped up three more sloppy squares of paint while she'd been in the tub. They were all dripping long tails of color down the wall, puddling around the paint cans and on to the floor. Two of the paint squares were vivid reds. Ari numbly watched them drip, thinking that finally, the true bloody nature of the purgatory her husband had condemned himself to was leaching from the walls.

Finally, the toilet flushed and the sink ran for a long time. Laing staggered out, shirtless and hair dripping wet. Ironically, he looked a little better for having expelled every liquid from his body. Sitting abruptly on the bed, he looked over to her, his blue eyes finally looking like his again. "I'm not- I think we should get some sleep and talk tomorrow. We need to talk. I- I'm going to need to apologize."

The voice didn't sound like her own, but Arianna forced a smile and assured him, "I'm not tired yet. You get some sleep. I'll go get you some water." By the time she came back with water and a bucket in case he wasn't finished, her husband was passed out on top of the covers. Sitting back down in the chair facing him, Ari clutched her cellphone. She didn't know who to call. Her parents were hours away in Glasgow, Lizanne on holiday in Greece, and she had a feeling somehow that Royal was right- that the police wouldn't answer a call here at the High Rise. Turning her phone over and over in her hands, Ari almost shrieked when it buzzed at her. Shakily lifting it, she saw the call was from James. "Jamie?" Her voice was tiny.

"Girlie, are you all right? Jesus Christ woman, I've been calling you every thirty minutes for the last like, forever! I've been scared shitless!" His voice was reassuringly loud and boisterous, and she gave out a shaky little sigh. "Ari, seriously, are you all right? Has anyone hurt you? Is Robert there?"

"What do you mean?" she answered slowly, trying to force her brain to work.

"I've been online researching that nasty fuck, Anthony Royal. While I was on, links kept popping up from message boards. There's half a dozen stories from people trying to contact family, or missing employees and such who live there and haven't been heard from. Nothing official. I remember you saying that none of the cars seemed to move, like no one was going to work?" James was agitated, upset that she wasn't answering him faster.

Arianna pushed herself to her feet, walking into the living room and opening her laptop. Clicking the cursor, she frowned when she realized she was offline. Checking Robert's, his was off as well. "That's odd," she mumbled, "I can't get online. The server is down."

James let out an exasperated breath. "Not at all surprising if you're creating a fortress. Or a prison. Ari, you were right about Royal. He's got dozens of charges and complaints against him, statutory rape, rape rape, assault and drug charges, charges of sexually assaulting underage girls after drugging them- and they all get dismissed."

She frowned, "Wait. What did you say? About the drugs?"

"He's been serving roofies at his little soirees," James answered, "girls getting dumped by the road later beaten and raped, not remembering what happened after they went to his place."

Ari rubbed her forehead, trying to think more clearly. "Tell me about the symptoms."

"Jesus!" he said, "Did you drink anything?"

"No, but Robert did. Only two drinks, and he looked completely arseholed. I have never seen him intoxicated. Ever, and he spewed when we got home. Violently. There's been a couple of other times... when he looked just- I don't know... like he wasn't in there. And we lost time." She explained about the afternoon trapped in the lift.

"Look, Ari. I cannot stress this enough. You are both in huge fucking danger. He's responsible for another group of people in Brazil- a big group- all found dead in a mass suicide back in 1985. This bastard is incredibly charismatic, he can get anyone to do anything. And he's connected, like, upper levels of government connected." Ari thought to the Ambassador tonight, how Royal bragged about members of Parliament. James was still speaking urgently in her ear. "...You have to leave _now_. I'll come get you both."

"Jamie, it's not that easy," she said despairingly, "some of the floors, they've blocked off the elevators like territory. And I've heard the stairwells are being barricaded with furniture and people trying to hurt anyone who uses them." 

"Well, then." He said firmly, "I'm calling the police."

Arianna burst into helpless tears. "Wilder- Royal's bulldog? He told us no one would be coming here. I somehow believe him."

"Bollocks," James hissed. "I'll call a detective friend of mine, he works in the police district downtown by the gallery and I've known him a long time. Now, look. Do you feel safe in the flat?"

"I think so," Ari agreed, "we have thick doors, good locks. Even the windows are incredibly sturdy glass."

"Good," he said. "Where's Robert now?"

"Asleep," she said, glancing back to the bedroom, "he's in bad shape, I think."

"It's all right," James said bracingly. "Go double check all the locks. See if there's something you can use for a weapon. Call your parents. I know they're hours away, but it's someone else to know what's going on, all right? Now, keep your phone charged and close by. I'll call you shortly."

"Jamie," Arianna tried to swallow her tears and smile, "you're my best friend. This is the second time you've saved me, you know."

There was a short silence and then he growled, "Just don't start singing in gratitude, please. I'll call you in a moment."

Putting the phone back down in her lap, Arianna stared at the long form of her husband, motionless in the bed.

Pacing the living room later, she tried dialing her parent's number, but the call wouldn't go through. Angry tears flooded her eyes as she realized she lost her window of opportunity. Robert's phone was equally as useless. 'How had Royal managed to block a bloody _cell_ tower?' she raged. Now she was worried sick about James, hoping he wasn't foolhardy enough to try to "rescue" them on his own. Sitting back down in the bedroom chair, Ari kept vigil over her husband.

 

Waking with a start, she squeezed her eyes shut against the sun coming through the window. "I fell asleep? _Damnit,_ Ari!" she scolded herself. Looking around, she saw the bed empty and a blanket draped over her. "Robert?" she shot up, pushing aside the soft throw and heading into the living room, "Robert! Where are you?" Putting a hand over her mouth, Arianna tried to push down a terrified sob. 'This is _not_ the time to lose it!' she scolded herself. The door was securely locked, and a note attached to it. Pulling it off the front door, she shakily walked over to the sofa to read it.

"Beautiful Wife.

There is nothing I can say to apologize to you for what I forced you to do last night. It had nothing to do with what we are: how we dominate and submit to each other. I was a bastard who wanted to show off my beautiful toy, the one I would never let anyone play with. To expose you in a way that shamed you violated my role as your Daddy, because my ultimate responsibility is to be your protector. Since the first moment I laid eyes on you in your pretty white dress and your Nile green eyes, I have wanted nothing more than be everything in your world, as you are in mine. 

I can't explain what happened last night, how I failed my role as your husband. I can't remember much of it, I don't know why I put the person I love most in this world in a position where I terrified and humiliated you. Of all the times I've pushed you into sex play, I was always certain that the end result would be your pleasure as well as your submission. The night I left you at our home, crying and so afraid of me I began to believe the thing you needed protection from was, in fact, your husband. Yet, you still showed up here in your stubborn way, refusing to let me let you go.

I'm going to take care of some pressing issues with Royal. I'll be back soon to take you home to Knightsbridge and away from here forever. I know I don't have to ask you to stay locked inside here in safety. Beautiful, perfect wife- I doubt a future where you can forgive me- where we're together. But I will never stop working for it. The moment you gave me Pandora, I know you gave me your soul. Know that you have mine in return. For always.

All my love, Robert"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been following some of the new research on Roofies- this shit is scary. There's new derivatives that can make a victim "lose time" while staying conscious, very effective memory-wipes, there's even rumors the drugs are being used in law enforement for interrogation, because it makes the victim passive and accomodating.


	19. Hen's Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for lots of horrible language, blood, knives, and vengeful golf clubs. You have been warned.  
> 

Arianna couldn't stop the flow of her happy tears. Pressing the letter to her face, she rocked back and forth. She could count on one hand the number of times her husband had told her he loved her. Robert was always better at showing her she was treasured than saying it. Ari would never have expected anything as beautiful and passionate as this letter. Why did he risk going back upstairs? She knew he must have deduced that Royal was responsible for his state last night, she wondered if he realized that the bastard in the penthouse had been manipulating him for much longer than this. Wiping her face, she got up and briskly got dressed in leggings, a black cashmere sweater and her riding boots, pulling herself together and starting to pack the most important items for both of them to take when they left.

Leaving the bags by the front door, Ari started looking around for weapons. She noticed two of the larger knives were missing from the kitchen rack and shuddered, relieved that Robert armed himself. She tucked a paring knife in her riding boot and started around the room, wondering if Robert kept a doctor's bag here for emergencies like he had at the town house. There would be scalpels, viciously sharp and easy to conceal. Walking past the armoire, Ari gasped as she realized one of the doors hung open, just slightly. Eagerly pulling the heavy wood panel out farther, she found the huge piece of furniture was empty, save for a pile of thick, cream-colored sketch paper on one shelf. Remembering all of her mental images of Black Beard's wives hanging by their hair, Ari turned the sketch paper to face her and put her hand over her mouth, trying to choke back a sob. Each piece of paper was a pen and ink sketch of her. Sleeping, laughing, looking down with a smile, dancing en pointe in front of his window- drawing after drawing of her, nearly fifty of them. She never even knew her husband had this talent, that he was an artist. His work was beautiful- simple, graceful lines. Wiping tears off her face, Ari realized her note was written from the same paper. Walking over to pick it up, she turned it over to see a sketch Robert must have done when she fell asleep, the lines tenderly tracing her hand resting on one cheek, legs drawn up on the chair. Closing her eyes and holding the sketches to her, Arianna's head tipped back as she smiled blissfully. She would never doubt her husband's love again. She took them over to her bag, carefully placing the drawings flat before zipping them in safely.

A huge "thump!" just outside their windows made her head shoot up, and Ari went into the living room, wondering if there would be another rain of debris from above. Glass shattered and she gasped as people burst into the flat from the balcony. She could see a wide table slammed over the railing, connecting their balcony to the flat next to them. Whirling on one foot, Arianna raced for the bedroom, trying to lock herself inside. Her hand was almost on the door when she was slammed down to the floor as someone leapt on to her back.

"None of that, cunt!"

The voice was horribly cheerful, and Ari's stomach turned as she recognized Charlotte, her heavy tits against her back. "Get OFF me you bit-!" she hissed, the words cut short as a hand grabbed her hair and slammed her face into the floor.

"Ah, ah, ah. Time for you to shut the fuck up and take what's coming to you, you little slag." Charlotte's voice was right next to Ari's ear, horribly intimate and reeking of alcohol. Still fighting furiously to move, the little brunette felt another body sit heavily on her legs, and another set of hands yank her right arm up painfully, just inches from breaking it. "Thinking you were too good for here, too pure to be tainted by the likes of us?" The blonde continued, yanking Arianna's head back up and nearly tearing a fistful of hair out. "Stupid cow. Who do you think your husband's been fucking this whole time you were crying back home, hmmm? I believe his dick's been up the ass of every woman on 5 floors." Arianna's heart clenched painfully, hearing the mocking laughter behind her. "As a matter of fact," Charlotte continued in that horrible, cheerful tone, "we've brought home movies! Hen's night!"

After the weight left her legs, Ari angrily tried to kick out at her tormenters and get loose, but a fist to her stomach and another to her cheek slowed her down long enough for the girls to drag her to the couch. Despairingly, Arianna recognized the five vipers from across the hall, helping the blonde shove her onto the seat and hold her down long enough to tape her hands together, slapping another piece of duct tape over her mouth. Humming happily, one waltzed over to turn on the huge TV screen, pushing a cd into the machine. "Now," said Charlotte, leaning over the back of the couch, "you're going to love this!" She stroked Ari's cheek and then hit her hard with the back of her hand. "Mr. Royal gave strict instruction to not damage you. Too much." This set of another round of high-pitched laughter from the girls.

Gritting her teeth, Ari started working the tape binding her hands together behind her. She could feel blood dripping steadily out of her nose, but it didn't feel broken, at least. As the screen came to life, she felt like the breath was punched out of her. Robert was getting a blowjob from a woman being fucked roughly from behind by Royal. One of the flight attendant harpies sat next to her, throwing her arm over Ari's shoulder. "That's me," she cheerfully informed Robert's stricken wife. "Oh, my. Laing's got a cock like a rhino. Couldn't even walk straight the first time!"

The scene changed, and this time it was clearly Charlotte, lying on top of Wilder while her husband stood behind them, driving hard up the blonde's ass. Arianna suddenly gagged, heaving and trying to keep from throwing up. A hard slap on the back of her head made her focus again. "None of that, bitch!" laughed Charlotte, "you throw up with that tape on your mouth and you'll choke to death. Personally, that's the end I'd love to see for you, sheep girl!" Another hard slap rocked Ari's head forward. "But Royal plans to choke you to death on his dick while your hubs is watching, so it's almost as good."

Eyes narrowed, she continued to watch as one hideous scene melted into another, her Robert slamming into woman after woman, getting his dick sucked as he slapped their faces. She was furiously working the tape on her hands, trying to keep the movement from the six bitches avidly watching the show. Arianna couldn't stop the painful twisting of her heart- feeling like a clawed hand was ripping it in two. She knew Robert's inexhaustible sex drive wouldn't lay dormant when he left the house that night. After all, the very reason he left was her rejection of him sexually. There were plenty of spiteful strings of gossip that slipped back to Arianna during their separation. Even knowing that, even _expecting_ it, still didn't stop how acutely painful this was to watch, her husband's eyes completely blank as he continued through the nightmare porn they forced her to watch, the harpies cheering at the most disgusting moments. 'Almost there...' she thought, 'almost." She still wasn't sure what she could do to fight off six of them, but knowing their plans for her made getting away imperative if she was going to survive this day.

Charlotte slammed her hands down hard on Ari's shoulders, leaning in. "Now, this is my favorite, the Greek Orgy two weeks ago, before you dragged your pathetic little arse in here, whining and begging Robert to take you back. Look at that monster cock! I have missed it so mu-"

Arianna _was_ the good girl her mother used to take so much pride in. The only time in her life she'd ever struck another person was the first night at the High Rise when she slapped her husband for taunting her. But she drove back with every ounce of force she could muster, bracing her strong feet on the floor to make the blow harder as she slammed the back of her head into Charlotte's nose. The scream and spurt of blood that shot past her told Ari it was a direct hit. Yanking the paring knife out of her boot, she blindly slashed the girl to her right, then seized a book off the coffee table and slammed it into the face of her captor on the left. Darting over the shrieking girl, she raced for the kitchen, the other three after her. The first thing to meet her hand was one of Robert's expensive copper pans, which made a satisfying 'claaaang!' as it met the head of the closest pursuer. But as she was fighting off the first, the next grabbed her hair in one hand and a knife in the other. "You fucking sow!" She hissed, "I'll carve you bloody for that!" The blade was digging into Arianna's neck, warm wet streaks starting to trail down her collarbone when the pressure of the knife loosened. Whipping around with the pan up, she saw Keeley, shaking as she watched the knife in her flat mate's neck spurt blood from the gash she'd made.

"Thank you..." she could barely speak, staring at the girl who'd just saved her life.

"You'd better go now." Keeley's voice was high and thin. "Better go now."

"Come with us!" Ari tried to take her arm, but the girl drew away. "Do you know where Robert is, Keeley?" She almost missed her whisper of "the penthouse" as Charlotte and another girl recovered enough to attack again, shrieking angrily. Ari leaped the counter and headed for the door at full speed, skidding to a stop as she frantically worked the lock. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the closet door was open, and Robert's golf bag was leaning neatly in the corner. Yanking a club out, she continued the swing back behind her using the momentum, but her aim was off. The club missed Charlotte but connected hard with the neck and shoulder of the next girl. The blonde wrapped an arm around Arianna's throat and bit savagely into her shoulder, pulling a shriek of pain from her. Reaching back desperately, Ari managed to grab the blonde's hair, yanking Charlotte's teeth out of her neck as she swung the knife blindly behind her. It struck bone, Arianna winced, feeling the blow jar against her wrist. The howl from the blonde was like nothing she'd ever heard, more animal than than human. Holding up the golf club again, she turned to see the little knife driven deep into Charlotte's cheekbone, the woman screaming shrilly.

Shaking, Ari backed out the door and sprinted down the hall. If those vipers were sent after her, what were they doing to Robert in the penthouse? Veering away from the lift, she headed for the stairwell, hoping no one was barricading above their floor. But scraps of burning paper, trash and even a broken TV and microwave were raining down the open air in the center, and Ari had to jump back as a chair rolled down the stairs. She moaned, the lift, then.

Somehow, she wasn't surprised when the chrome doors opened smoothly, as if nothing had ever been amiss. It looked like Royal was waiting for her.

Her trembling hand pressed the "Penthouse" button, and Ari angrily swiped her hair away from her bloody face, pulling it into a messy bun and wiping off the blood as best as she could with her sweater. Tightening her grip on the golf club and expecting an attack, Arianna raced out already swinging the club. But it was quiet, classical music playing lightly from the speakers. Edging to her right, her green eyes darted back and forth. The gigantic penthouse held a thousand hidden spots, Royal and his revolting little henchmen could be anywhere. And where was Robert? Turning the corner into the cavernous living room, Ari stopped abruptly. Seated graciously on a grouping of those clean white couches soiled with the filth of a thousand different sins was Royal, Pangbourne, Wilder, two men she didn't know and a third standing behind her husband, who was tied up, blood leaking from a cut on his temple. "Hello, Lovely Mrs Laing," Royal drawled, "we've been expecting you." Looking over the welts on Arianna's face and the blood on her neck, he chuckled indulgently. "Charlotte, that little minx. So excitable. Did you enjoy our home movies?" She sneered at him as he laughed, delighted. "Now dear, don't sulk. You must admit your husband has a commanding screen presence. Now, where are the girls?"

Arianna carefully shrugged, still angling out of reach. "One's wearing my kitchen knife in her throat. I expect the others will be along."

Risking a glance at her husband, she saw him smile with pride and mouth 'love you, wife.'

Their host threw his head back in delighted laughter. "Well done, dear, well done indeed. I would never have thought Robert's sniveling little sheep girl would have it in her." Royal finished chuckling and narrowed his black eyes at her. "Now, speaking of IN you, we're all looking forward to fucking you raw, right in front of the very selfish Dr Laing. All this unpleasantness could have been avoided, son, if you'd just remembered to be the man I made you, the man you were meant to be."

Laing furiously surged forward, "You will not touch her!" The man behind him punched Robert's face, opening a new cut as Arianna gasped.

"And you, Lovely Mrs. Laing, not able to keep your whore mouth shut, could you? Telling stories about the High Rise, trying to tattle..."

Ari's heart dropped into her stomach like lead. Jamie. Forcing herself to roll her eyes, Ari continued her careful circuit around the men, still clutching her golf club. "Please. There's literally hundreds of messages out by now about missing people in the High Rise on a dozen different social media sites. You think I'm the only one?" Her hands were shaking, so she tightened her grip on the golf club. "Even your special little pals in government can't cover the stink you've made this time."

Royal laughed again, but he didn't sound amused. "Oh, you stupid little bitch. I am so very much looking forward to splitting you in half."

Ari's eyes swept to her husband, who turned his palm slightly in her direction, showing a scalpel cutting at his bonds. 'Yes!' She thought joyfully, 'thank God for doctors and their sharp instruments!' "You know, Royal," she spoke as calmly as she could, "I saw three of your documentaries in film class at Cambridge. Professor Branagh loved using them as an example, calling your work the perfect storm of idiocy and hubris- a film maker too stupid to realize that the mess he created wasn't anarchy, it was nihilism." Their host shifted irritably. "Even with all your glaringly obvious symbolism, trying to show the disintegration of society to make room for rebirth. You were never patient enough for that, were you? Instead, you just tore everything apart. There was nothing left to rebuild. Nothing. In fact," she continued, pausing by a vase on a stand, "we used to laugh and call your shitty films the original torture porn."

"Shut your fucking maw, you sow!" He screamed as he lurched at her, "I've been feted at Cannes twice! My work will spark revolutions for decades! And you," he hissed, "you are a stupid little sheep girl whose only place in this new society in on your knees to your betters with your mouth open TO RECEIVE MY DICK!" Waiting until his fist was raised to hit her, Ari grabbed the vase and smashed it into his face, finishing off with a swing as hard as she could manage with the golf club to his shins. As the director screamed and went down, she darted in the other direction, trying to escape the grasp of a furious Wilder. She heard the shriek and wet gurgle behind her as Robert slipped his bonds and slid the scalpel across the throat of the thug next to him, turning smoothly to jam the blade into the temple of the one behind him. Digging in with her strong legs, Arianna raced into the kitchen area, only to stop and let out a scream as she saw what was dripping on the dining room table.

"Found supper, did you?" Wilder asked jovially as he fisted a hand in her hair, yanking her head back and pulling the golf club from her grasp. Piles of Ann Royal's horse were stacked on platters, and Arianna vomited helplessly as she recognized piles of Mrs. Royal next to her mare.

Dr. Pangbourne joined them. "One of the advantages of knowing the human anatomy," he said clinically, as he shoved Ari's face next to the platter, "one must carve just so to make sure all the sweetest cuts of meat stay intact." He roughly passed a cloth over her mouth, "Tidy up, dear. I plan to fuck that lovely mouth of yours in a minute." Grasping helplessly at the table top, she managed to grab a lighter and then a sharp serving fork, which she jammed in Pangbourne's thigh as he screamed. Wilder laughed as he dragged Ari back into the living room by her hair. Robert had cut through two of the thugs before the third managed to draw a gun, leveling it at his head. Royal was still on the floor, screaming in rage and pain.

"Bring that miserable little cunt over here-"

"No." Wilder yanked harder at her hair, raising Ari up on tiptoe. "I found her first. I'm fucking her first." Reaching her hand behind her, Ari flicked the lighter and set fire to his shirt at the same time Robert drove a second scalpel into the throat of the man behind him. The gun went off and she gasped, trying to loosen Wilder's terrified grip in her hair while his other arm flailed at his burning shirt. Laing was there in a moment, slicing at the architect with one hand, grasping his wife and pulling her away with the other. He led her stumbling down the stairs to Royal again, almost purple and still screaming shrilly from the pain inflicted by Arianna's golf swing.

Royal looked up at them, controlling his yelping and trying to sound calm and paternal. "Son. Think about who you became here, no longer concerned with stupid cunts like her, or bowing to society's restrictions as if they mean a goddamn thing to us! We are the kings of this world, these people are fucking SHEEP!" Ari could hear Wilder's howling die down to groans, and the 'whoosh!' sound of curtains catching fire. The front door slammed open, and the screeching of the harpies from downstairs carried through the room, along with the howling of more men.

'Nothing sounded human anymore,' Arianna thought dazedly, 'more like howls and growls and'-

Robert pulled her along as he leaned down to rip something hanging from Royal's neck. "I'm not your son," he snarled, "and my wife just broke your _legs_ , you pathetic little bitch!" Yanking her in the opposite direction of the front door, Robert and Ari raced through the penthouse and out into the garden. Pausing to pull a huge coil of industrial watering hose free, Laing held her face in his hands. "I love you, God, I love you sweet wife. Do you trust me?"

"Of course," she said without hesitation, with absolute certainty. They could hear the howls of the animals behind them coming closer, and he grabbed her hand and yanked her along. Pausing at a railing along the running path, he looped the hose around it, then around their waists, binding them together.

His blue-green eyes stared into hers. "Hold on. Tight." He rolled them both over the edge, Arianna screaming as she felt them plunge through the air. The scream cut short as the hose found it's end and jerked upwards, painfully cutting into them both. Slashing them free with his bloody scalpel, Robert helped break her fall onto the balcony. Standing up, weaving and dazed, Ari realized it was theirs. "Come, sweetheart, we have to go." Robert's face was white with pain, she realized his was holding his side.

"Robert, your ribs are broken!" she gasped.

"No time, wife. Hurry now." They limped through the wreckage of the flat and Ari grabbed a golf club from the closet by the open door, handing another one to her husband. "Leave those," he groaned as she snatched up the bags by the door.

Arianna shook her head fiercely. "No, let's go, husband." She helped him out into the hall, then gave a brief sob. "How are we getting down 25 flights? The stairwells are barricaded and-" 

Robert gave a pained grin as he showed her what he'd yanked from around Royal's neck. "How fortunate that I have an override key."

She laughed a little hysterically, remembering Royal's smug grin as he said those words... was that just yesterday? She swung threateningly at a neighbor staggering down the hall as they backed their way to the lift. The key opened the chrome doors, and the mirrored box started sliding down smoothly. Watching the lights blink as they passed each floor, Robert tightened his grip on the golf club and took the bags from her, wrapping them over his broad shoulders. Ari tried to protest, but he shook his head. "You need to be hands-free to protect me, wife." She leaned up on her toes and kissed him fiercely, forgetting that she'd just vomited all over Royal's dining room table. When the doors opened on the first floor, they both came out swinging, Laing knocking over a beefy invader in only a pair of stained underwear. Ari struck at a woman trying to claw at her eyes, knocking her off them. There was another barricade at the main door, but Arianna kept swinging as Robert rapidly smashed a hole through the jumble of furniture and garbage. Stumbling out the door, she looked back to see if they were being chased. But the bloody and mostly naked residents stood dully at the opening, watching the Laings limp for the parking lot.

 

Arianna could only laugh helplessly at the heartbroken expression on her husband's face when he saw what was left of his Jaguar. Someone had smashed a fence-post through the windshield. Every tire was slashed, and there were holes stabbed into the battered finish. "What ARE you laughing at, Ari? How do you think we're getting out of here?" He said crossly.

She staggered to her rusty Range Rover, parked next to what was left of her husband's sports car. "Grandfather's chariot awaits, my darling." She yanked the spare key from the box stuck under the wheel well, and opened the passenger side door for her limping spouse.

"It's not going to start," Robert grumbled, but he climbed in anyway. To their mutual amazement, the Range Rover did indeed start, and Ari tore out of the parking lot as fast as she could force the ancient engine to go.


	20. It's Just A Flesh Wound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stitching up stab wounds, a tragic character death, and hot makeup sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because some readers asked...  
> "Gravitas:" dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner. Synonyms: dignity, seriousness, solemnity, gravity, sobriety; authority, weightiness. "A man of gravitas" The Doctor Robert Laing.

Robert fought with his wife all the way to the hospital, but Ari was adamant when she saw blood seeping from his lean thigh. "I heard the gun go off," she said sorrowfully, "I thought it missed you."

"Ari, this is a bad idea. We don't know who we can trust." He gritted his teeth, looking at the red "Emergency" sign.

She shook her head. "It's your teaching hospital, there's no better place." Realizing that it was THE Dr. Laing bleeding in the ancient Range Rover, orderlies and a nurse raced over to help him out and get him onto a gurney. Limping through the halls, stubbornly clutching his hand, Arianna waved off the offer of a wheelchair. "I'm fine. I can wait to be examined after Dr. Laing is taken care of." The nurse looked doubtfully at the bleeding teeth marks in her shoulder and the cut on her neck, but nodded. When they tried to stop her at the door to the examining room, Ari's voice finally raised. "You are not taking my husband anywhere without me! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!"

She turned to hear the slightly rusty chuckle as Robert started laughing. "I wouldn't upset my wife. Mrs. Laing can be quite fierce when she's angry." She walked through the door, still holding his hand.

"Goodness, Ari." He murmured, pulling her closer to his lips, "Who would ever have thought the sweet, shy girl I fell in love with was secretly this golf club-wielding Amazon?" Putting her forehead against his, Arianna closed her eyes, trying not to cry. They kept their heads together, keeping their voices low as they tried to decide what to do next.

"I'm scared for James," Arianna whispered, "he called me last night, he knew about Royal and what was going on. He was going to talk to a police detective he trusted."

"That's what that bastard was referring to when you came in," he murmured back. "Why don't you trying calling James right now?"

When she hesitated, he put her cut and bloodied hand to his lips, "Just stand right outside the door to get a signal. You can see me from the window, all right?"

"GODDAMNIT, ARIANNA!" She hastily took the receiver away from her ear, wincing as James screamed.

"Stop! Jamie, just-"

"Where the HELL have you been! Your phone rang and rang- it wouldn't even pick up to leave a message!" He shrieked.

"Royal somehow blocked the cell tower, just minutes after we hung up last night. We got out, we're safe. Where are you?"

"King's College Hospital, I'm just waiting for my mate to get stitched up-"

"What?" She gasped, "So are we! We're room 12!"

"I'm just down the hall from you, I'll come over," he kept talking as she heard his footsteps. "Right after we filed a report at Guy's precinct, I was on my way home and someone tried to gut me with a very large fucking knife. Guy got nicked similarly, and knew they'd go after me. Saved my life."

As he rounded the corner, Ari threw herself into his arms, "Thank you! Thank you for coming to our rescue! Royal told me I couldn't quote, 'keep my whore mouth shut,' he knew right away I'd spoken with someone."

"ARI!" She could hear Robert's voice roar through the door, and turned to race back in. All the staff's heads shot up at the same time as the doors slammed open. They'd been trying to hold him down as he struggled to get up, nearly tearing out his IV. "I couldn't see you!" He hissed, "you were to stay right by the door!"

"I'm sorry darling, I'm sorry!" Ari kissed one of the few unbandaged spots on her husband's head. "I found James, he's here, too!"

"That would be me." Jamie said awkwardly from the door, raising a hand.

"This is ridiculous!" protested the attending doctor, suture gun still in hand, "Dr. Laing, you're compromising the sterility of this room with these people."

Ari hid her grin behind one grubby hand as her husband raised his head and gave the doctor his best frozen The Doctor Laing expression. "It will be _fine,_ Dr. Hobart."

"The gravitas..." said James in awe.

 

After the team finished with Laing, they started on Arianna. "Three broken ribs, gunshot wound to the thigh..." she recited, getting more and more furious, "...two knife slashes deep enough to stitch, multiple contusions..."

"Yes, sweetheart, I know. I was there when they stitched me up," her husband soothed, holding her hand as Dr. Hobart used a fine needle to stitch the cut on her neck, trying to minimize the scarring. There was another gash on the back of her head she hadn't noticed, and the nurse was setting up an IV line of antibiotics due to the deep bite mark from Charlotte's vicious teeth. Laing's clothes were a lost cause, so he was in a pair of scrubs and still looking regal despite his bandages.

"We should have _killed_  Royal!" she hissed into his ear.

Robert shook his head. "Everything we did, we had to do to survive. That would be...something else," he said carefully, glancing at the irritable Dr. Hobart. His blue-green eyes were swirling like the ocean current as he looked back to his Ari. "I never imagined you could be so bloodthirsty," he whispered teasingly.

Her full lips were set in a hard line. "He hurt you."

Robert put his lips to her bruised temple for a feather-light kiss, "He hurt us both. And I hurt you."

 

Finally bandaged and medicated, the Laings were allowed to leave after Detective Guy O'Leary showed his badge, assuring the medical team he was there to take their statement. They headed down to the cafeteria, finally getting introduced to Guy, who was sporting a fairly impressive set of stitches of his own across his chest. "The question is," Robert asked as he handed Ari a cup of tea, "who can we trust?"

Arianna shook her head, "if they tried to kill a police detective..."

James and Guy leaned on the table, clearly as exhausted as they were. "I've already contacted someone in the Specialist Operations directorate of the Metropolitan Police," he rubbed his bandaged chest, "I trust him, we served together in the military. But it's clear that anyone trying to bring this to light is a target."

  
"We have to get someone to listen!" Arianna felt like screaming, "There's children in there, surely everyone's not insane!" Robert took her hand, squeezing it. But she leaned forward, staring at the detective. "How can anyone get within 30 meters of that hellhole and not know something's horribly wrong?"

James shook his head. "Ari, since I told you about those queries about missing family and friends, I've seen at least another 100 pop up. No one can quell the _internet_ , for Christ's sake!"

"Apparently, you're wrong," said Guy. "There's enough rich arseholes with something to lose, powerful enough certainly to crush our investigation."

"We could contact the media?" Suggested Ari, "Between us, we have to have some pretty good contacts?"

"Already tried that," groaned Jamie. "Both reporters pissing themselves with excitement, only to refuse my calls again within 10 minutes."

"The reality is this," Robert said flatly, "the insanity Anthony Royal is spreading has infected the High Rise. Everyone there will be dead in a matter of days if there's no intervention."

The four parted in the parking lot, promising to talk again in the morning. Arianna hugged James hard, "Thank you," she whispered. "Just... thank you." The Laings held on to each other as they headed for the Range Rover, the pain meds were wearing off and their beatings from the day- both physical and emotional- were suddenly taking a toll. Sliding wearily into the driver's seat, Robert turned the key. Ari yelped as sparks shot out from under the rusty hood and they both started choking as a black smoke poured out of the vents on the dashboard. Getting back out, they stood in front of the sad remains of the vehicle. "I think the Rover just coughed it's last breath," she said sadly. "I can't believe it. You get your wish, though. I guess we have to junk the Rover and get something else."

"Don't be daft," Robert replied, putting his arm around his wife, "after today? I'm going to have this thing bronzed and hung over our fireplace."

 

Opening the door to the town house was heaven for Arianna, smiling as she finally felt safe. Paying the cab and coming up behind her, Robert ushered her inside and locked the door. "Oh!" She moaned, "It's so good to be home."

"Good to be home with you, wife," he smiled, kissing her neck. Turning in his arms, Ari kissed him fiercely.

"I was so afraid we would never be here together again," she whispered.

Robert's huge palms slid slowly up her neck, cupping her face. "I will never be apart from you." His first kiss was tender, but the next was not. The exhaustion and pain suddenly dropped from them both as their mouths began to move together harder. Both sets of lips, split from repeated blows during the day, opened again, blood trickling down their chins and tasting bitter, like a penny as their tongues explored each other. His hands slid to her upper arms and pushed her against the wall as Ari moaned, eyes closing as his hips were already pushing urgently into hers. Mouth moving down her neck in kisses, hands eagerly squeezing her breasts before pulling off the scrubs top the nurses had given her, Laing's sinful lips continued the heat pooling in her nipples as his tongue nudged them free from her bra. Arianna's hands slid into his hair as she felt him urgently yanking her leggings free, then her riding boots.

"Oh!" She gasped, as Robert pulled her undies aside and eagerly pushed his mouth against her core. Yanking off her own bra, Arianna pulled urgently at her husband's shirt, trying to make him stand so she could remove it. All at once, he was up again and then sliding into her. Her mouth shaped into an 'o', but Ari couldn't speak as Robert yanked her legs around his hips and pulled her upwards and back down onto him again. His hips were pounding so fast into her that the little brunette couldn't get a second to adjust to him. But the pain was so good- delicious and so different from everything she'd endured that day at the cruel hands of others that Arianna shoved her hips back at him, tightening those strong ballerina legs around him. They gazed at each other, the silent entryway broken only by their gasps. Smelling the blood and disinfectant on him, Arianna yanked at his shirt, ripping the sleeve in her eagerness to get it off his broad shoulders. Robert helped her quickly and then put his hands back on her hips and ass, pushing her down harder and harder on to him. They both wanted it to last longer, but their mutual desperation drove them into an orgasm that was so acute they could do nothing but moan into each other's mouth. Ari buried her face into his neck, shaking. Staying seated deeply into his wife, Robert carried her upstairs.

Standing together in their big, steamy shower, she leaned back against the tile, smiling blissfully as Laing carefully washed her from head to feet, even taking the latter and kissing them as he washed her toes. Gently shampooing her hair around the stitches in her scalp, his long fingers combed gingerly through the wet strands, making sure all the blood and grime from their day in Hell was gone. Robert winced as he watched handfuls of her curls slip to the drain. Arianna turned to take the soap and caught the look of grief in her husband's eyes.

"What?" She ran her soapy hands gently up his neck, massaging the indents where his skull began. "What?" He shook his head and smiled at her, kissing her in an attempt to distract her. "Robert. Please tell me."

He gently ran one warm hand down her cheek. "To see you hurt, my sweet wife. What they wanted to do to you... Because I was too stubborn to see what I'd become."

Ari carefully turned him, washing his back, massaging the knots of muscle and trying to avoid the tape holding his broken ribs in place and the bruises blackening his skin. "Well," she mused, "if we're going to assign blame, we could start with me pretending you were a monster and driving you away, so that I didn't have to accept that I loved what you did to me. How much I liked you being my Sir." She could see Robert's cock beginning to swell from just hearing her, and one small, soapy hand slid down to stroke him.

"I'm not sure the two are relative in magnitude, darling." His voice was already dropping as her hand slid back and forth.

Ari put her wet, soapy front against his broad back, rubbing her breasts over him. "Or maybe we assign it all to Karma, and accept we had to ride this hellish wheel to come out on the other side. Into Paradise. Or, Knightsbridge in this case." She giggled a little, feeling his ass begin move back against her sensitive belly. Robert moved quickly, tenderly putting her on the stone bench and picking up the hand-held shower head.

"And when did you develop this mystic wisdom, my dear wife?" He started rinsing warm water over her soapy nipples, down her stomach and washing her long legs. On the way back up, his thumb flicked the setting to slow pulses and pressed it against her pussy.

Head dropping bonelessly against the shower wall, Ari sighed, "When I thought I'd never see you again."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got one chapter left for Robert and Arianna...I really had no idea that I could and would write and finish a story here--thank you for the support!


	21. Meow, Meow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More makeup sex...helplessness...love and utter devotion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so very much for reading! The comments and support made this so much fun to write.  
> BTW: the story of Queen Habashiya and King Solomon is an actual part of African mythology, you can find it here:  
> http://www.a-gallery.de/docs/mythology.htm

Despite the wonderfully healing makeup sex the night before, the Laings both woke up in great pain the next morning. Ari automatically rolled over in her sleep to nestle against the warm side of her husband, before groaning painfully. Robert looked down to her concerned, putting a hand to her cheek before moaning as well.

"Oh, GOD," hissed Ari, "I am so supremely uncomfortable right now..."

Her husband tried to laugh before deciding the movement was a bad idea. "I put some painkillers on your bedside table," he grumbled, "it would be wise to take them now." She rolled over weakly and reached for the bottle and the glass of water. Taking hers, Arianna forced herself to roll back over with two pills and the rest of the glass of water.

"Here, baby," she whined, "take yours."

"Don't need them," Robert hissed. "I should be feeling better than this." Summoning the last of her strength, Ari rolled over on top of him, still holding the pills. 

"Every muscle in my body is screaming for help," she wheezed, "I can't imagine what you feel like. Take the pills. Please baby, for me."

He did, while huffing, "This is ridiculous."

"Of course," soothed his wife. "It's truly a mystery. Perhaps it's because an entire building of lunatics tried to murder us yesterday. Or, maybe it was the entryway..."

"Or the shower," agreed Robert, wincing as he put his arm around Ari.

"Perhaps it was the one on top of the dresser..." murmured his wife as they both fell back asleep.

 

Waking to the sound of the shower that afternoon, Arianna sat up in bed, weakly pushing rebellious curls away from her face. "Robert?" she called, "Where are you?"

He walked out of the bathroom in only a towel, leaning over to kiss her slowly, careful this time to avoid the split, bruised part of her mouth. "Going downstairs to make a very late breakfast and possibly a triple shot of espresso." Robert tenderly kissed her again. "Why don't you take a shower and come down?"

"Mmmmm..." moaned Ari blissfully. She fell against her pillow again, carefully undulating against the crisp sheets, so grateful to not hurt from every pore.

"Why is the kitchen green?" she could hear Robert's voice below her. "Did you paint?"

Arianna shot up in bed, eyes wide. 

 

Later that afternoon, they met at Guy's flat to speak with his friend. Malcolm looked doubtfully at them both, still scabbed and covered in bandages. "We're going to do this," he said, "but I will tell you now that I'm going to insist you testify as anonymous witnesses. I've heard what happened to my mate and your friend James."

Robert furrowed his brow. "I know you. You're an investigator for the Metropolitan Police. I've seen you speak before. But, you look hopeless."

Malcolm sighed. "I am. But I have to try."

The Laings dutifully went through the terrifying events of the last week. Arianna was proud of her ability to be calm until the last moment, when she talked about the remains of Royal's wife stacked on their dining room table, and how quiet little Keeley saved her from the flight attendant harpies. "She wouldn't come with us. I begged her to," her full lips compressed as she tried not to cry. "I should have made her, somehow." Malcolm's shrewd eyes watched them as Robert took her hand, leaning in to look at her.

The investigator suddenly turned off his recorder and shut his notebook. "I'm going to present a report to the rest of the Specialist Operations today. I believe that the investigation will be silenced within the day. But I have to hope there's more of us than there are of them." He sighed, standing up and collecting his equipment. "It's clear to me that the two of you love each other. Never speak of this again. To anyone. If I can call you back with news that we can conduct a raid, it will be a good thing. If you never hear from me again, don't attempt to contact me. Do you understand?"

Robert stood slowly, holding out his hand. "Thank you for doing the right thing."

Malcolm sighed, shaking his hand. "And to you. I only wish in this day and age that was enough."

 

The Laings waited for a week, hoping for a call back from Malcolm. It never came. James, who spoke with them every day, said Guy hadn't been contacted by anyone and continued his work as if nothing had ever happened. It was difficult for Robert to let Arianna go back to work. He held her hand in the newly-purchased Jaguar in front of the gallery. "I'll be all right," she said, kissing his clenched jaw. "Guy is here for a few days, and he hired a couple of friends as well. I'm more worried about you."

Laing smiled, and kissed the furrow between her brows in return. "I'll be here by 6pm for the opening. Call me. Every hour."

Smiling, she kissed him again. 

"I _mean_ it, babygirl."

Arianna delicately ran her tongue along the ridge of his ear before whispering, "I know, Daddy." He groaned, getting out and opening her door. 

As she collected her laptop and bag, he leaned in close. "You're going to pay for that, my dirty little girl."

Standing on tiptoe and biting his ear sharply, she whispered, "I'm counting on it, Sir."

The opening was a huge success, Arianna so gratified to hear the reports coming back from some of the art critics invited to the event. She was beaming as she found her husband, absently sipping champagne and looking at the entwined design of a couple on a huge platter. "Ah," she said, linking her arm through his. "You've found my favorite piece."

"Tell me about it," he said, kissing her forehead.

"It's from the story of Queen Malika Habashiya and the Roman King Solomon," she replied. "She was barren, and she woke from a dream that showed her King Solomon could cure her and give her a child. She traveled for a thousand years to find him, and the King agreed to help her. Queen Malika walked a path of burning coals to a huge pool he'd had dug and filled with water for her. As she bathed in the pool, all the powers of the feminine Divine returned to her. Solomon and Habashiya spent the night together, and she woke pregnant with his child."

Arianna looked up to her husband's eyes, shimmering in pools of green and blue. "What happens then?" he asked.

A slow smile spread across her full lips. "Why, they love each other for all time, my husband."

His head dipped into her fragrant curls. "As it should be, my perfect wife."

Their moment was interrupted by James and Pari. "Brilliant, my dear!" He gushed, "Simply brilliant! I knew this would be a smashing success!"

Ari laughed joyously from the shelter of Robert's arms. "Of course you did, boss."

Sari squinted for a moment, eyeing the thick platinum necklace around the curator's neck. "Your choker, it's so pretty, Arianna. I love the style."

The little brunette blushed, carefully not looking at her husband whose eyes were intent on her throat. "Thank you, Sari. It's a present from Robert for tonight, since it's my first full exhibition."

Flushed and excited, the Laings dropped in bed that night, kissing feverishly. "You were brilliant tonight," Robert kissed his wife until she was breathless. "Watching you be so confident with all those critics..."

She ducked her head into his neck. "Being stronger there makes me crave you as my Daddy even more here, I can't explain why." Ari moaned as his clever tongue slipped between her lips, moving sinuously through her mouth. 

"I am so proud of you." Robert stroked her face, gently moving her rebellious curls away from her face.

The old impulse to blush came back as she ducked her head again. "I love hearing that from you," Arianna whispered, kissing him again. As their hands moved more restlessly, they were interrupted by a text on her phone. It was from James. "Turn to BBC news," it read. Heart pounding with dread, she took the remote and turned on the huge monitor. 

"...London fire crews rushed to an uncontrollable blaze at a massive complex called the High Rise this evening after reports of a fire that sent flames rising two stories above the complex. The blaze was so intense that actually approaching the structure closer than 24 meters was impossible. Emergency response teams are calling this a complete catastrophe, with no hope of survivors, given the severity of the damage..." Robert slowly put his arms around Ari's waist as she blinked back tears. "The progressive structure was said to host over 2,000 people, making this the biggest single fire disaster in in British modern history..."

"Please," whispered Arianna, "please turn it off."

Two days later, Robert was rooting from the bags they'd taken from the High Rise when he called his wife. "Ari, come up here, please. "How... did you find these?" If she didn't know her husband better, Arianna would have thought his tone was shy as he held the pile of his drawings out to her.

"I was looking for weapons that last day," she answered honestly, "I walked past the armoire and it was open. I found your sketches. They were the reason I was so insistent on bringing those bags with us." Ari smiled, looking up at his uncertain expression. "They're so beautiful-  I didn't know you were an artist!"

Robert shook his head decisively. "I'm not, silly girl."

Smiling, she gathered the courage to slip close to him and kiss him, just under his ear. "I _am_ the one with the Fine Arts degree, my darling. You have wonderful talent. Why did you never tell me?"

He shrugged, continuing to dress for work. "Until the dreams, I hadn't drawn in an age, since I was a child, really."

"Dreams?" Ari's brow furrowed.

His eyes were swirling as they met hers, a kaleidoscope of blues and greens. "I dreamt of you nearly every night after I left you. Sometimes, the only way I could get to sleep again was to sketch you. I hadn't taken up a pen since I was a child- it seemed silly after Jeremy was hurt- when there was so many other important things to do."

Her Nile green eyes filled as she put her head against his broad chest. "Those sketches were the reason that day I knew I could do anything that brought me back to you. No matter what those harpies did." 

Robert hugged her, then carefully inserted his cuff links into his shirt, straightening them before he spoke. "When Royal asked you about home movies, about me being a screen presence that day, what did he mean?"

Smoothing the soft wool of his black suit, Arianna shrugged. "Oh, he had surveillance video of everyone's comings and goings. I think he was trying to show he knew about everything in his building. Just a pitiful power play, really."

His eyes were always the hardest thing to hide from when her husband scrutinized her, but when Robert turned and stared into her eyes, she forced herself to stare back. "Is there anything you need me to explain to you, Ari?"

Rising on tiptoe to kiss her tall and beautiful husband, she honestly replied, "No. No, there isn't."

 

The following week, Ari's best friend Lizanne returned from her holiday in Greece. Pounding loudly on the shiny black door of the Laing residence, she shouted "OY! Ari, open the goddamned door! I come bringing gifts! Well... really, shitty tourist stuff but you'll love these sandals I've found..."

"Hello, Lizanne." The deep voice behind her was calm and horribly familiar.

"AAAH!" She shrieked, holding a hand to her chest. "Er, Robert. How lovely to see you. I was looking for Ari?"

Laing was walking up the stairs to the town house, briefcase in hand as she was banging on the door. He smiled, just barely enough to turn up one corner of his thin mouth. "Just getting home myself. Let's go in and find her, shall we?"

"Um...yes. Good idea," Lizanne said bracingly, "so, you're back at home, then?"

"Indeed," his gaze was level. "Forever. For good." Opening the door, he ushered her in. "I want to thank you for being such a loyal friend to Ari when I was gone. I know your friendship means the world to her."

Customary bravado gone, Lizanne floundered "Well, quite. Of course. Glad you're home. Loved your wine cellar."

Laing's brow furrowed. "I beg your pardon?"

"No meaning!" Gasped Lizanne, "Really! Um, Where's Ari, then?"

Blue eyes looking at her suspiciously, Robert turned to call, "Darling? I'm home, where are you?" They both listened, hearing nothing but the muted traffic from outside. "Make yourself comfortable, Lizanne," he said politely, "I'll check upstairs." Throwing off her coat and setting down the shopping bags, Lizanne looked around for sign of her best friend. Hearing his footsteps echo clearly, she turned around until she realized the sound from above carried through the black iron vent in the entryway wall.

"Darling?"

She could hear Robert's query, and then a sharp "Oooof!" as the sound of two bodies thudding against the floor registered down from the vent. Lizanne gasped, looking around her wildly. Was it a home intruder, maybe a burglar or-. Her speculations were cut short by a pleased moan from Laing. "Such a bad girl. Bad Pandora!" 

The purr that rattled through the iron grate next made Lizanne slap her hand over her mouth to stop her giggles. "Arianna?" she mouthed disbelievingly.

"Now, baby, you can't just jump on Daddy and-" Another thump and another pleased "Oooof!" from Laing made the eavesdropping girl laugh silently. Torn between leaving discreetly or opening a bottle of wine for the afternoon show, Lizanne's decision was made when Robert spoke sternly, "Now Pandora, don't be a bad kitty. Am I going to have to discipline my naughty girl?" Still laughing and speechless, Ari's best friend grabbed her coat and bolted to the front door, locking it behind her.

Upstairs in their bedroom, The Doctor Laing was still wrestling on the floor with a wildly enthusiastic kitten, who was clinging to his legs and licking his neck. "Baby," he groaned, "Daddy missed you too, but you must be a good girl now. Roll over." Pandora happily rolled over on to her back, arching hopefully while meowing at her Daddy. Her kitten noises were improving, thanks to more YouTube study. "My darling kitty, we can't do this now, you have a--" Pandora desperately rolled on top of him again, licking her way over his mouth, down his neck, tearing open Robert's shirt and blissfully tonguing the thin trail of hair leading to his generous cock. Anything other than the luscious concoction in front of him disappeared as he swiftly yanked his belt loose and tied her soft gray paws together. As his Pandora yowled her frustration at him, Robert ripped his expensive silk tie off and looped it around her ankles, brutally pulling her bound legs up to trap her spread knees between his narrow hips. "What happens to bad kitties who don't obey their Daddy?" he said sternly, trying to ignore the massive erection attempting to make it's way free from his trousers. Ari's frantic meow and the desperate movement of her hips didn't help the painful stiffness of his dick, but he reached over and gave her narrow ass a sharp slap. 

"Ahh!" She tried to moan and meow at the same time.

Her husband firmly stopped the grin fighting it's away across his handsome face. "Bad kitties get a spanking. Roll over on to Daddy's lap." She obeyed, still wiggling hopefully. Robert gently ran his warm hand over Pandora's smooth ass and the tail settled firmly inside her bottom. "Arch your back, babygirl," he growled, and she obeyed, shaking with anticipation. The following five swats earned a combination of a yowl and a moan from the kitten across Laing's lap as the slap jolted not only her bottom but the slim cylinder that held the tail inside her ass. Running his calloused fingers against his kitten's clit, Robert groaned as he felt the slickness of her swollen lips, the invitation of her wet thighs. Moving his kitty off his lap and onto the floor, Robert gave her a sinful smile. Sliding two fingers under the loose band of her silver necklace, he pulled her head down to his crotch. "Why don't you show Daddy how sorry you are for being such a naughty girl?" he groaned. Her green eyes glimmering, Pandora lowered her head to take his thick organ into her mouth, sucking it greedily and running her soft tongue over the pulsing veins on the sides. It was the texture she loved the most, Ari/Pandora thought as she sucked her husband down her throat. Like steak, like a thick solid meat. Her eyes closed as she felt Robert's hands slide through her hair, stroking her face and then her neck as he felt her slim throat open and take him deeper. Robert's head dropped back before gathering his composure. "Now darling Pandora," he chided gently, "it won't be that easy."

Looking up at him with narrowed green eyes, she smiled slyly, and gave a long, deliberate swallow, clenching her throat against the length of his cock. Robert groaned again as he came instantly. "Fuh- Oh, you bad little- God, that's-" Feeling her silent laughter tickle against his swollen dick, he pulled out slowly and lowered his face between hers spread legs. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, Pandora." He slapped her thigh as she began to push against his tongue. "Hold, darling." His voice dropped to his most poisonous and darkly persuasive. "Hold, now..."


End file.
